IF YOU’RE absolutely beloved of that glimmering, du-jour intersection where hazy, technicolour psych meets sweeping synths with a healthy dose of funk – y’know out there deep in there, where MGMT intersect with Tame Impala – then you really need to be letting a little of Psymon Spine’s louche groove into your world.
The Brooklyn quartet of Noah Prebish, Sabine Holler, Brother Michael Rudinski and Peter Spears are set to release their second album, Charismatic Megafauna, come February; in advance of which comes the first single, the seductive, blurry psych-disco atmospheres of “Confusion”, which you can cop an earful of herein.
Noah and Peter are the band’s founding fathers. They met in college and found common ground; Noah says: “We wanted to make something that was experimental, but also accessible and satisfying,” citing influences such as Talking Heads, Os Mutantes and the New York dance scene.
“We’ve always wanted to make people feel good with our music, but challenge them too,” says Peter.
Soon Brother Michael came aboard, and Noah brought Sabine to complete the line-up upon parting ways with his other musical project, dream-poppers Barrie.
Charismatic Megafauna, the album, takes its title from a phrase dropped by Noah’s dad, a professor of biology: charismatic megafauna are defined as plant and animal species whose size and appearance tend to draw people to ecological causes.
And, as Noah explains, the record is also the product of the safe place that the band is for the four members: “There’s a lot of recovery on this album,” he says. “It’s music about catharsis and being together.
“We’ve all had a crazy few years, and for all of us this band is a safe haven; a community, and a way to create something about what we were experiencing.”
Psymon Spine’s Charismatic Megafauna will be released by Northern Spy on February 19, 2021; there’ll be a Dinked vinyl edition, too, for those of us this side of the Pond – keep your eyes peeled.
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