Being able to fall back into music that can be considered dream-like even a little bit is something that I look forward to on a daily basis as no two experiences are exactly alike, and it’s a realm of truly infinite possibilities and enjoyment. So many bands have brought unique blends to the table before, and mixing heaviness with psychedelia is far from an original concept nowadays but still so amazing to witness when it’s done right. Spotlights has been a name I’ve heard of before, but it’s now with their forthcoming EP that I really understand what all the fuss was about.
With just four songs to call its own, “We Are All Atomic” is something that I wish had a whole bunch more of because of how delicious Spotlights has made this entire work from the dream-like waves that constantly wash over the thick riffs that are always breaking our necks while simultaneously resuscitating us so that we can hear more! It’s by the end of the first track alone that Spotlights becomes yet another band that shows 2020 is a key year for anything mildly heavy and psychedelic as it’s the entirety of this stunner of an EP that we see this New York trio work their magic without breaking a single sweat to constantly deliver a performance that can’t be considered anything short of grand in even its humblest moments of unfolding to something greater. “We Are All Atomic” is both humble and expansive as just one song, without taking into consideration any of the other three, can just as easily be a great rollercoaster of heaviness with loads of twists and turns or a hypnotic trip of routine pulses from the strings that constantly keep you flowing through the colorful spacial realm that Spotlights seems to weave out of nothing. And to say that Spotlights pulls it all off without breaking a sweat would be putting it lightly as there isn’t a single iota of this EP that can’t stand proudly on its own if it were pulled aside, and Spotlights allows that to take place so organically that it feels like the talent comes as easy as breathing for them to where you can’t look away from the grandeur taking place before you. So much of what goes into “We Are All Atomic” is what’s necessary for both a great work to make the rounds throughout the community as well as enough to show us that the band in question is not to be fucked with and Spotlights more than meets that criteria here.
I really do mean it when I say that Spotlights has earned their place among the great bands that have been and still are releasing the best psych pieces that I’ve heard in years around this time including Elder, Big Scenic Nowhere, and more, and I don’t think it’ll be hard to see why when this EP drops. I cannot suggest “We Are All Atomic” as it has everything that a heavy psych fan could ask for with much more than what we normally get out of anything labeled heavy psych, and I don’t think I’ll be getting tired of it anytime soon.
“We Are All Atomic” releases on March 27th via Blues Funeral Recordings!
PRE-ORDER “We Are All Atomic” via Bandcamp here.
LIKE Spotlights on Facebook here.
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