Spirits Having Fun’s Penchant for Heady Intensity Keeps Two Gripping and Singular

Spirits Having Fun make spindly, unpredictable music that dwells in the gray area between post-punk, jazz and math rock. With members based in both Chicago and New York City, distance-born collaboration shapes the band’s work. However, where some artists might view thousands of miles of separation as a creative challenge, Spirits Having Fun embrace it, and they thrive. Distinct elements of both Midwest indie and Northeastern experimentation seep through on the band’s sophomore album, Two. You can hear echoes of Windy City acts like Moontype and Floatie in its spindly intricacy, but it simultaneously brings to mind the freewheeling, swirling work of Big Apple stalwarts like Standing On The Corner and Onyx Collective. Jumbling a myriad of styles and feels throughout the record’s 42-minute runtime, Two can be a hectic affair, like watching sped-up footage of a major thoroughfare during rush hour. However, it’s this penchant for heady intensity that keeps the album gripping and singular.

Where 2019’s Auto-Portrait embraced quirky no wave and syncopated experimental impulse, Two thrums with the patchouli-tinged essence of ‘70s jam music. On “Hold The Phone,” proggy organ flourishes give way to a Television-esque ripper, which eventually disintegrates into organic ambience. “Broken Cloud” finds Phil Sudderberg’s bouncy drums dueling with deluges of placid analog synthesizer noodling and shimmering guitar harmonics. With its downright psychedelic riffing, “Entropy Transfer Partners” plays like the indie rock version of a Strawberry Alarm Clock song. “Almost the end of the month / And you have nothing to set aside / Spent half your paycheck on rent / Now you’re back where you started again,” Andrew Clinkman sings on the track, maligning what he called “the infinite hellscape of our healthcare system” in a statement. With their tie-dyed electricity, the retro-leaning moments on the record are Pynchonesque and sunbaked. However, they don’t feel inauthentic, and rarely come across like the work of a band bitter about being born in the wrong generation.

Spirits Having Fun are commendably technical songwriters, and Two can sometimes feel like it’s about to rupture into oblivion. “The Leaf Is a Chorus” alternates between frantic guitar plunking and funky verses, driven by boisterous rudimentary percussion that recalls Elvin Jones or Max Roach. On the opener “Silhouette,” carefully orchestrated full band hits contrast Katie McShane’s wide-eyed vocals with brief segments of bombast. “Am There” evolves from beachy dream pop to distraught punk with a spontaneity that evokes a Grateful Dead live show. “Everybody wants to be a star / Everybody wants to drive a car,” McShane sings, her lyrics equally sardonic and childlike. The record’s prettiest and most gossamer moment comes on “A Long Walk in a Sunflower’s Shade,” on which Mort Garson-y keys lay the framework for McShane’s hypnotic, droning vocals. Like sand kicked up by a strong gust of wind, the musicianship on the record takes flight in countless directions at once, swirling around in a way that can be both alluring and disorienting.