Dad Bod - "Spirits" | New Music

(Cover art by Callie Marino)

"Rot" might have misled you into thinking that Dad Bod wasn't a band with three guitarists, at least up until its closing moments. The band's new single "Spirits" won't fool so easily.

"Spirits" is a straightforward song. Its scale is balanced equally between the triumvirate of feedback that the band can summon and gentle, chiming melodicism. Even when the quintet waters the flowers of their chaotic discontent, they do so carefully, deliberately. The bursts of noise still dissipate like fog over the lake, but they reach an end point, reigned in by Wilson Zellar's stellar (ha) production.

Guitar tone aside, Callie Marino's songwriting is still as insanely compelling (and just plain good) as it was when I first listened to "Rot." Like, come on: how is "I may be a ghost / but my biggest fear's transparency" not a line from some classic song? Paul McCartney who? As you may have guessed, there is a lot of specter-themed imagery in the song. Between the two Dad Bod songs that have actually been released to the world, we've got zombies and ghosts — personally, I am very excited for the Dad Bod monster-pantheon concept album.

Perhaps the song's original working title ("Wine & Spirits") gives a better idea of the song's emotional trajectory. It's a demand to simultaneously be immediately and never perceived. Self-fulfillment is sought out in the worst places. An air of desperation permeates the chorus' yearning lyrics. Marino's voice bites slightly as it ascends ("exPERIENCE"), coming up above the waves and gasping for air. The dichotomy of immediate need ("Someone that I can haunt...") versus fear of intimacy ("...while preserving my distance") is sliced messily in half. 

Dad Bod's songs serve equally as hollow caverns of depressed sentiment and life-affirming, transfixing roars. Marino's words capture exactly how you feel just as the full band's glorious sound reminds you why you care enough to keep going. 

Buy/listen to "Spirits" below or find it on your preferred streaming service.