Released on Halloween, SpiritOil's debut EP, En Carne is as raw as its name and as dark as its release date. Reflecting on the fragility of life, En Carne takes its listener on a journey through an intoxicating underworld of SpiritOil's own design.
Balancing emotive vocals with full-bodied instrumentals, James Starkey and Cameron Day have curated an EP which is immersive and unrestrained. All-encompassing, these songs capture the feeling of being in a dimly lit, intimate gig space; with beer on the floor and SpiritOil's signature heavy indie/rock sound bouncing off the walls.
En Carne bares its soul to the listener; from one song to the next it grapples between romanticising the release of death and the carnal desire to live. Offering up a morbid honesty in its sincere song writing, this EP is afforded an element of lyrical storytelling unique to SpiritOil's prior discography.
Lead single on the EP, 'Memento Mori', acts as a thesis statement, "remember you must die". Lead by sinister, sensual bass, this song takes place at the scene of a death and follows the body in it's descent. Slowly succumbing as the song builds, the “soul slips under”, overcome as the drums get heavier before melting away into emptiness. Grippingly vivid, this song explores an unknowable moment, setting the scene for the EP both contextually and sonically.
‘She Could Take You’ personifies the feeling of living fast. Taking the form of an edgy femme fatale, recklessness takes us by the hand and leads us into a pulsing underground bar, deeper into the seedy underbelly of En Carne. It's pace quickening in a kind of mania, this song replicates the feeling of being chased until you can almost feel your heartrate racing. "She Could Take You" takes on a devil-may-care attitude as it pours a shot down our necks and shakes us awake, hyperaware that it all will end, so we might as well live a little.
Much like the song it follows, 'Enough Is Never Enough' has a mortality fuelled lust for life. Determined and dissatisfied, the lyrics proclaim "I wanna live outside my head", in a thirst for freedom. The production is lucid and smokey, with words reverbing as if caught in an enclosed space, circulating like thoughts trapped in the brain. This song is a call for more, to do more, to be more, it is a desire to taste the marrow of life while it can be acquired, recognising that first there must be an exorcism of the present. To set "life alight [and] burn the ashes to dust".
The most experimental song on the EP, 'Crocodile Tears' takes the focus away from the lyrics and onto the feeling that instruments and effects can evoke. Maintained by a headstrong bass at the forefront throughout, this song is playful in in approach to production. Varying from siren like sounds, to what I can only describe as the noise those knobbly wooden crocodiles make when you run a stick over their backs. You know the ones. There is something exciting and unnerving about these decisions, a voodoo like lawlessness that takes control and keeps you on your toes.
Closing with my personal favourite song on En Carne, 'Let Go' bears the weight of the songs before it, and collapses in a comedown of emotion and hypnotic vocals. It is a cyclical moment that conjures up a similar response to 'Memento Mori', as we feel ourselves falling once again into the songs all-encompassing ambience. Full of heartache 'Let Go' mourns the nothingness of life, lamenting in a lovelorn pleading for eternal company. It is an acceptance of fate, stating "there's nothing here for me now" it succumbs to the unknown as our temporary journey into the afterlife comes to a close.
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