by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
At the end of this month Austin, Texas’ Space Tan are set to release their sophomore album, Inti Raymi, via ATH Records (Gabe Hascall, Pelvis Wrestley, Bones Garage). The band, comprised of Gianni Sarmiento (vocals, guitar), Savanah Shanks (keys), Ray Garza (guitar), Ray Flynt (drums), and Wesley Maffly-Kipp (bass), make music that’s fuzzy, at times psychedelic, and definitely steeped in home spun power-pop. The record’s lead single “Summer Song” kind of reminds me of Flaming Lips minus all the extra (unnecessary) hoopla and gimmicks. Weaving a weary sensibility with warm humming distortion amid an otherwise sonic clarity, Space Tan add texture where it’s needed most.
“Isolation” is the second single from Inti Raymi, and as you may have guessed… this one is about the pandemic and the isolated loneliness we’ve all felt at one point or another. Over a big and fuzzy guitar progression that song creeps around jangly verses and big surging hooks, offering sad wisdom like “Waking up doesn't matter / If you don't know how to live” and “In all the time that I've been given / I've seen nothing stand on its own.” It’s a song that doesn’t offer a great deal of hope but you’d never know it from the music, which retains a upbeat exuberance to it, free and full of overdriven melodic jangle.