PSYMON SPINE Share New Single 'Boys'
The track was released alongside a music video.
By: Michael Major Oct. 10, 2023
Brooklyn-band Psymon Spine have released a new single, the infectious “Boys” which exemplifies the band's unique ability to craft music that is both introspective and danceable. The track was written after the band's Sabine Holler moved to Berlin but she lends her voice to the song.
Around her dreamy vocals guitars tweak out, a strident run of synthesizers. All of it creates a feeling of psychic unease. “By nature every Psymon Spine song must be a little cheeky to bypass our own self-criticism, but in reality ‘Boys' is just a very earnest song about friendship,” the band notes.
“Early on in the pandemic Sabine moved back to Germany and we weren't sure what was going to happen, either to us as a unit or to the entire world. We went to Peter's childhood home in Boston for a few days and fleshed out a demo that Michael had started a couple weeks earlier. We sent it to Sabine who almost immediately replied with the same vocal take you hear on the song today."
Psymon Spine recently announced a U.S. tour with dates kicking off this Friday, October 13 in Madison, WI and concluding with a hometown show in Brooklyn, NY on October 26. The band will be playing fan favorites, previewing new songs including “Boys,” and also performing tracks off their 2021 album Charismatic Megafauna.
That LP explored complicated feelings and catharsis through a singular approach to left-of-center indie, electronic and dance sounds and received acclaim from the likes of Paste, FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar, Atwood, and more, as well as notable airplay from KEXP, KCRW and the BBC. Tickets are on-sale here and all dates are listed below.
Psymon Spine is Noah Prebish, Peter Spears, and Brother Michael. The band's origins date back to Prebish and Spears meeting in college and finding common ground in their artistic aims: “We wanted to make something that was experimental, but also accessible and satisfying,” Prebish states, citing influences like Talking Heads and Os Mutantes along with the rush of the NYC dance scene. Eventually, Brother Michael joined Psymon Spine, as the trio hashed out the demos for what would become their debut, 2017's You Are Coming to My Birthday.
Along the way Psymon Spine became a figure in the Brooklyn dance scene through throwing the immersive art and dance parties of the Secret Friend series. Meanwhile, Prebish's work in dream-pop band Barrie—who broke out in 2019 with the excellent debut Happy to Be Here following a string of buzz-making singles—led him to meet singer and multi-instrumentalist Sabine Holler, who eventually joined Psymon Spine's ranks after they both parted ways with the rest of Barrie.
Their latest LP Charismatic Megafauna finds Psymon Spine embracing and exploring left-field electronic sounds ranging from disco's high-energy rhythmic breakdowns to the upward build of early techno and motorik's indelibly incessant pulse. The band put their own loopy and addictive stamp on the sounds of the past throughout, with surprises at every turn and the type of lush synth work that could only come from such brilliant students of dance music.
Thematically, Charismatic Megafauna—which takes its title from a biological term passed down from Prebish's biology professor father—reflects on the changes the members of Psymon Spine have experienced in their lives over the past several years. “There's a lot of recovery on this album,” Prebish explains. “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.”
Pymon Spine grew up in the ‘00s and ‘10s with a deep appreciation for the art of "the remix," and after the release of Charismatic Megafauna, the group found themselves craving longer and more dance-floor friendly versions of their songs to play at their recurring party Secret Friend. That desire led to last year's Charismatic Mutations which runs the gambit from slow-burner headphone journeys, to mid-tempo sunset-and-white-suit head nodders, to 3am deranged apocalyptic club heaters.
Reflecting optimism and emotional catharsis, both Charismatic Megafauna and Charismatic Mutations are heady trips through left-field pop, packing an emotional wallop.
Psymon Spine tour dates
10/13 - Madison, WI @ UW Madison
10/14 - Northfield, MI @ Carleton College - The Cave (private event)
10/15 - Galesburg, IL @ Knox College
10/16 - Chicago, IL @ Color Club
10/17 - St Louis, MO @ The Sinkhole
10/18 - Nashville, TN @ The Basement
10/21 - Memphis, TN @ Wiseacre Festival
10/26 - Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville
Photo: Nicole Neptune Miller
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