A constant fixture in Halifax’s live scene, Electric Spoonful has always offered consistently bold and booming rock with the energy turned up to eleven. Now, following their end of the year debut album Caravan Fire, the group is taking a step out of their traditional hard blues rock home and into some stranger waters. This double single release of “Storebot” and “Seeing Double” shows off some interesting growth from the band.
“Seeing Double” is definitely an attention grabber. Clocking in at less than two minutes, it begins with what sounds like cellphone recorded audio describing a chance encounter: during the Halifax Pop Explosion, punk group Metz’s frontman Alex Edkins and the band’s friend Duncan were standing outside the Seahorse dressed identically. We’re then quickly thrown into a heavy-hitting, guitar squealing rip with the essences of the encounter being listed. It’s the kind of odd anecdote that you’d expect to transform into a Zappa or Ween song, but it works in this quick and heavy context.
And then there’s “Storebot”, a track from the point-of-view of a weed dealer, abandoned by his friends and clients once the green stuff was legalized. A cheeky and grooving affair, “Storebot” hits a perfect medium of where the band has come from and where they’re going. Maintaining the Spoon Boys’ infectious quality, it shows off a new kind of playfulness from the rockers. The sound at large is still heavy and fuzzing, but the technical precision elevates everything and delivers an unhinged swagger that brings to mind Jane’s Addiction.
“We’re unbound in the creative process,” bassist C.J. Hill states of the latest endeavours, and that energy is more than clear-and definitely working in their favour. “The wheels are off the track, we are going to new territory.”
These latest offerings from Electric Spoonful are every bit as energetic and rocking as the group has always been, but there’s definitely some fresh fun to be had. The heavy is heavier, the groove is groovier, and the boys seem to be tapping into the essence of what makes the group what they are. “Storebot” and “Seeing Double” are a wild new ride, and only time will tell what weird new worlds they’ll take us to.