Psych Rock from Seattle Junior

Born and raised in Mississippi, Seattle Junior is Deep South through and through, making the sort of melodic alternative rock that looks backwards and forwards at the same time. His music draws on the familiar warmth of classic pop, psychedelia and alternative rock, but places those sounds against the complications of the twenty-first century, resulting in indie power pop with an orchestrated twist, where vintage aesthetic, unexpected textures and a distinctly Southern perspective all overlap.

His musical origins run through the Beatles, ELO, David Bowie, Daniel Amos and Tom Petty, with Seattle Junior using the language of twentieth-century rock to examine a world that increasingly feels like a science fiction story escaping its own pages. Faith and doubt, technology and archetypes, hope and the search for meaning all find their way into his songwriting, creating music that’s melodic on the surface but increasingly curious the deeper you look.

That vision was already apparent when Seattle Junior introduced his sound with “Sweet and Low” last summer and since then, a string of well-received releases has continued to map out his particular blend of literate songwriting, orchestrated rock and slightly psychedelic textures. His latest single titled “Long Angry Summer” brings several of Seattle Junior’s recurring themes into one concentrated, slightly dangerous package; the apocalypse, religion, technology and the wider mood of an era increasingly controlled by technological forces.

Its imagery reaches towards lone satellites moving through twilight, searching for their way home, while the music tethers those futuristic ideas to the physical language of guitars, microphones and classic rock. “Long Angry Summer” employs a twentieth-century sound to carry twenty-first-century lyrics, allowing familiar musical textures to collide with ideas that feel increasingly strange and unstable. It’s an output that fits Seattle Junior’s engaging artistic outlook, where the comforting familiarity of classic songwriting provides a framework for questioning what’s happening around us.

Brought in by bright vocal lines, warm instrumental tones and pattering percussion, the track casts a breezy scene before the crunch of gritty guitar and rolling drums injects a driving rock energy. Capped by expressive vocals, the song glides through moments of airy, stripped-back arrangement and bursts of rousing, theatrical rock, resulting in a thrilling musical experience throughout. Wrapped in psychedelic vibes and cut with charming power pop appeal, the song balances dreamy instrumental elements with the contrast of gritty guitars to craft a truly original soundscape from start to finish.

Recorded at Studio B in Mantra Records, the single also reveals an experimental side to his production. New plug-ins were incorporated to achieve a more vintage, analogue sound, while the guitar featured on the recording was an SG borrowed from an band he works with. “Long Angry Summer” ultimately works as both a rock song and a sort of miniature world of its own. It contains guitars, melody and the catchiness of classic pop, but surrounds them with questions about technology, faith, collapse and the strange mythology of modern life. With “Long Angry Summer,” Seattle Junior uses those tools to make sense of a future that seems to be arriving faster than anyone can quite understand.

Listen to Long Angry Summer below

More from Music

---

Editor Picks

---