We don’t mean to get too late-aughts music blogger on a Tuesday up in this shit, but it seems like Psymon Spine are hellbent on crafting vibes rather than just making music. The Brooklyn electronic psych-pop group dropped new album Head Body Connector via Northern Spy Records way back in February, and apparently the vinyl version included a sweet little mood nugget called “Sugar.”
Never one to shy away from pleasing people on the dance floors from here to Spumoni Gardens, the band has today (August 13) offered the groove bop to the streaming overlords, and now it’s readily enjoyable for all who traded in their turntables for Ring camera during the pandemic.
“Sugar” was recorded in the Catskills with the rest of the record, and features backing vocals from Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors, The Roots, Flying Lotus). Psymon Spine’s Noah Prebish breaks it all down.
“It’s interesting watching a song pivot from one idea to another, central ideas in early drafts becoming mere footholds for later versions,” he says. “When I take a step back it’s like watching a squirrel jumping from branch to branch, or a Simpsons episode where the plot veers completely off course 5 minutes in. ‘Sugar’ started with me looping the drum intro of a Shuggie Otis track and noodling on a Juno 106 over it. I added some nonsense mumble vocals, and the sketches that would later become the synth and guitar leads. The rhythm guitar part I wrote was directly inspired by the guitar in the Men Without Hats hit ‘Safety Dance’, which we had recently done a cover of. It all sounded really weird and disjointed, but there was something about that felt really good.”
Prebish continues: “I began noodling around on their piano, playing the chords I had composed on the synth. Playing them on a piano made my hands want to move differently, and the rhythm became more angular, with more division between the left and right hands. Eventually the Shuggie Otis sample was muted, as were most (though not all) of the original synth tracks, and my vague lyrical ideas began to emulsify.”
See your neighbor and hit play on “Sugar” below.