Viv — the second LP by California rock n roll unit SPICE— expands their palette of damaged anthems and addiction poetics with a more bristling, visceral sound, distilled from years in the trenches of bands, break-ups, and breakdowns. Album opener “Recovery” captures SPICE at their stormy, weathered best, booming drums and North Bay riffs skidding out in a rockslide of rapture, regret, and bruised melody (“You sacrifice perfect days to laugh through the night / you have to get out of bed / and it’s hard / and it’s hard / it’s so hard to admit”). The single premieres today alongside a music video.
Set for release on May 20th via Dais Records, Viv continues the upward trajectory set for SPICE from their self-titled debut and 2021’s “A Better Treatment b/w Everyone Gets In” 7inch. The album’s first single, “Any Day Now,” embraces the group’s shredded pop potential. But what unites and ignites these songs across different energies and arrangements is their specific sense of emotion. Rawness refined into reckonings, approaching truth, born of cold mornings, bad luck, and too many wrong turns. Waking up where you’re not supposed to be, living a life you don’t recognize. Engineered by Jack Shirley and mixed/mastered by Sam Pura in Oakland, the mix achieves that rare balance of every element being elevated but distinct, with voices, strings, and drums each given space to blaze parallel paths.
Viv is available for pre-order here.
SPICE vocalist Ross Farrar explains the chemistry on Viv succinctly: “We all got in a room and this is what came out.” Named for a precursor project of bassist Cody Sullivan and violinist Victoria Skudlarek, Viv also alludes to broader notions of vividness, sonic, visual, and otherwise.
Viv is available for pre-order here. Stay tuned for more tracks to surface ahead of release date on 20th May 2022.
SPICE, ‘Viv’ track listing:
1. Recovery
2. Any Day Now
3. Ashes in the Birdbath
4. Threnody
5. Melody Drive
6. Dining Out
7. Live Scene
8. Vivid
9. Bad Fade
10. Climbing Down the Ladder
