Today is the best day of your life because post-punk Gods, Spirits of Leo have just released this incredible post-punk meets shoegaze track “Eden.”
Founded by singer Ryan Santos Phillips in Santa Rosa, CA (but living out their best life in our city — Brooklyn), Spirits of Leo delivers ethereal soundscapes with driving intensity. You can definitely hear influences The Cure, The Chameleons and Red House Painters, and some Jesus and Mary Chain. Written and recorded by Phillips over the course of four years, Equinox is a marked departure from the band’s previous discography, exploring darker, more cultivated themes and textures.
“Spirits of Leo started in December 2012, when I was a 19-year-old attending junior college. At that time, it felt as if nobody in my immediate vicinity seemed interested in making the kind of music I was desperate to make. I’d always loved the sounds of the New Wave era, having grown up on those kinds of records. I began recording my own tracks one layer at a time, experimenting with various effects and borrowing a friend’s microphone, until the songs felt finished, into what would become the first self-titled EP. Much of the subject matter at that time centered on anxieties, nightmares, isolation, and feelings of helplessness.”
The track “Eden” was written and recorded in one, overnight sitting, no doubt while I was off in Bushwick getting drunk somewhere with my dog. Goes to show you what different Brooklynites are capable of doing (or not, in my case).
“It was a response to a major breach of trust and dealing with that pain, which felt immovable at the time. The lyrics deal with attachment, infidelity, trust, and a world capsized.”
Equinox is coming out March 23rd, 2018 through Lux Perpetua.
“Until last year, Equinox was only a concept, a collection of demos dating back to late 2013. The unfinished album had been weighing on me for years until finally, I decided to fully construct the album, filling-in missing pieces, re-writing, re-recording guitar parts, re-recording vocals, polishing, and mixing. Like the rest of the album, both songs were self-recorded on my two-input audio interface, partially in my parents’ home in Northern California and in my room in Brooklyn (apart from the drums, which were later recorded in a professional studio).”
Listen to “Eden” below xx.
P.S. they are doing a release show at The Gateway (BK) March 22nd. Get your tix.
They’ve also got this Limited Edition LP that looks fucking sick. No we aren’t paid to say that. Alright fan girl over.