SPANISH LOVE SONGS, have released a new single called “Clean-Up Crew” – a mid-30s ode to life’s could-have-beens – the second track to debut from their highly anticipated new album ‘No Joy’ out August 25, 2023 via Pure Noise Records.
“It feels like my entire life has been spent on the cusp of something,” says vocalist and guitarist Dylan Slocum. “I wanted to play baseball as a kid, and then I went to college and got hurt. I went to Hollywood to do film and TV and got pretty close. The band has gone beyond our wildest dreams, but at some point, you get tired of chasing after your dreams. The song is me taking a step back and asking, ‘Can we handle a small life? Could we give it up and move to the middle of nowhere and not worry about chasing some dream?’ To me, that’s death.”
The new song follows the lead single “Haunted”, which was released last month with the announcement of ‘No Joy’. The track carries the saltwater-kissed vignetting of an Asbury Park summer, awash in Boss-inspired nostalgia and percussive acoustic guitar that build to some of the band’s biggest hooks yet. The video, directed by Hannah Hall, is a quirky view into a bar-band scene where everyone’s just looking for a good time.
Watch the music video for “Haunted” HERE
Stream “Haunted” on digital platforms HERE
Brimming with new wave pastiche, fluttering synths, shimmering walls of chorus guitar, and four-on-the-floor rhythms, ‘No Joy’ isn’t an exclamation point follow-up to the emotional catharsis of the landmark ‘Brave Faces Everyone’ as much as it is an exhale – the sound of vocalist and guitarist Dylan Slocum, his wife and keyboardist Meredith Van Woert, guitarist Kyle McAulay, bassist Trevor Dietrich, and drummer Ruben Duarte finding peace in quieter moments and embracing the negative space.
“This is the closest we’ve ever gotten to figuring out how to translate what I hear in my head with more clarity,” Slocum says.
Produced by the band and Collin Pastore (Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, Illuminati Hotties) and mixed by Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, M83, Best Coast), the 12 songs on ‘No Joy’ continue to find Spanish Love Songs grappling with the messiness of what it means to be alive in the modern age – unsure of the answers themselves but confident that together, we can all come a little closer to the solutions.
‘Brave Faces Everyone’ was about mustering up the strength to barely break even in an increasingly bleak world, ‘No Joy’ is finding the internal peace required to stay in the black. As Slocum says, “it’s an album about finding happiness in what you have and your current moment. It might be your best moment, or it might not, but you have to find joy in it.”
The band recently announced an upcoming UK/EU Autumn run with Hot Mulligan, with more global touring to be announced soon.
All current dates listed below with more info found at https://lnk.to/SLS_Music
With HOT MULLIGAN
Aug 31 – Kingston, UK – Pryzm
Sept 1 – Leeds, UK – Stylus
Sept 2 – Manchester, UK – Academy 2
Sept 3 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3
Sept 5 – Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
Sept 6 – Bristol, UK – SWX
Sept 7 – London, UK – Electric Ballroom
Sept 8 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Academy 2
Sept 10 – Eindhoven, NL – Effenaar
Sept 11 – Cologne, DE – Club Volta
Sept 12 – Hamburg, DE – Logo
Sept 13 – Berlin, DE – So36
Sept 15 – Münster, DE – Skaters Palace
Sept 16 – Munich, DE – Strom
Sept 17 – Weisbaden, DE – Schlachthof
Sept 18 – Antwerp, BE – Trix
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Since 2013, the LA-formed indie-punk quintet SPANISH LOVE SONGS have made hay on the backs of a string of beloved albums – 2015’s Giant Sings The Blues, 2018’s Schmaltz and 2020’s Brave Faces Everyone – lauded by critics and fans alike for their richly personal, no-holds-barred lyricism awash in existential dread, hyper-personal cultural ruminations and attempts to answer life’s big questions.