Creating Little Worlds with Personal Space and “Long Live the New Flesh” [Single Premiere]
“We’re a lot older now than when we first started making music together, so we’re just a lot more focused and sure of ourselves and what we want out of music-making,” relayed Alex Silva, guitarist and vocalist of New York’s post-punk prog rockers Personal Space. Silva has been making music with fellow band members Sam Rosenthal, Jesse Chevan, and Justin Gonçalves in various forms since the oughts, releasing their first songs as Personal Space in 2014 and popping up on debatably defunct label Tiny Engines in their early years. “We know what sounds and tones we like, what we’re good at, what we’re less good at doing, what our go-to lyrical themes are, etcetera. The bulk of that maturation happened pre-pando during A Lifetime of Leisure’s long production, but certainly the solitude of Covid times provided a lot of time for deep listening and experimentation as well. Super excited to share not only this EP but also what’s coming next.”
“The early PSpace was heavier, noisier, prog-ier, thicker; we valued the feeling of getting lost in songs, creating little worlds to journey around. The newer stuff —especially work-in-progress unreleased tracks — is more groove oriented and concerned with more classic songwriting approaches: satisfying chord progressions, compact song structures, clean arrangements, more unadorned vocal treatment. We’re also extending our sonic palette, hearing a lot of sax-portunities and piano stabs where before we were more pure guitar thinkers.”
Now, grown ass band Personal Space returns with Still Life, a fresh collection of four tracks to be released June 3rd, 2022 courtesy of Good Eye Records, their second release via the Brooklyn-based label. On the new EP, the exploratory adult contemporary indie rock outfit settle into and stake claim on their niche — a notch next to soft pop rock greats The Sea and Cake, Pinback, or Ultimate Painting. Today, a day ahead of its release everywhere else, the band and their label are sharing its latest single “Long Live the New Flesh” early exclusively via Wormbrain World, which you can listen to below.
“Still Life was fun to make,” Silva told Wormbrain, “because we had to do it on such a compressed timetable. We spent years putting together A Lifetime of Leisure, but because of some production constraints this EP had to be written and recorded in 4 months. There was this freedom to move fast and go with whatever inspiratory impulses we had. So the songs all sound like Personal Space, but they also all have their own distinct character: ‘Enron’s Trip’ is a kraut-y groover; ‘Ceviche From Kew Gardens’ has this Third Eye Blind-y post post-grunge thing going on; ‘Tandem Nights'‘ has a tender, autumnal, emo vibe.”
“...it’s basically about how technology transforms the body, how it reshapes our desires, how it can be used as a tool of control, or — maybe, potentially? — liberation.”
Photo courtesy of the artists.
“I’d say ‘Long Live the New Flesh’ has a Stereolab vibe, tempo and groove-wise, plus the jazzy chord changes, the vibraphone texture,” they offered, describing and comparing their latest single to the rest of the EP.
“It also kind of reminds me of this song “Natural Disasters” by this band Enon, I used to listen to that track a lot in high school. If I had to situate it within the greater Personal Space catalog, I’d say it’s like a hybrid between our LP1 and LP2, marrying the heft and prog-iness of the former and the groove-focus of the latter. Why is it the single? The pandemic theme of isolation is pretty underlined, so for that reason I think it makes sense as the single. Plus, it clocks in at just over 3 minutes, perfect for on-the-go lifestyles.”
And yes, for those Wormbrain readers wondering… the song title is most definitely a Cronenberg reference!
“VIDEODROME (1983) was a great pandemic watch, full of paranoia and body horror, but also super satirical and smart. You can read pretty deep into the movie — sometimes too deep — but it’s basically about how technology transforms the body, how it reshapes our desires, how it can be used as a tool of control, or — maybe, potentially? — liberation.”
“So this song of ours references this famous line at the end, where the protagonist Max Renn is ‘reborn’ into the Videodrome medium: ‘Long Live the New Flesh,’” we were informed. “It maps on to a theme of technology in the song, specifically the cycling from enchantment to horror with social media that I think is a pretty common experience for all of us, especially during the 2020 lockdown when we were all stuck at home for so long.”
Long live “Long Live the New Flesh.” Long live Wormbrain.
W.W: What is Wormbrain?
AS: The infinite scroll.
W.W: Thank you for sharing with Wormbrain.
Personal Space’s Still Life out June 3rd, 2022 through Brooklyn, NY label Good Eye Records.
