For Spencer Radcliffe, even the heaviest issues have a light-drenched, sun-tinted energy. For years, he’s been chipping away at the aura-in-amber of tape music’s most dreamy-eyed nostalgia as Blithe Field, as well as exploring elements of emo and math rock with projects like California Furniture and Best Witches. On his 2015 solo release Looking In, the Chicago-via-Ohio songwriter pooled sounds from both styles, spinning tales of addiction and anxiety into a mire of kaleidoscopic field recordings and lush patchwork of acoustic instrumentation.
After announcing his new live band Spencer Radcliffe & Everyone Else and debuting the single “Wrong Turn” with The Fader, Radcliffe is back with “Smoker’s Paradise.” A downtempo effort with pangs of emo, alt-country, and even slowcore at the style’s most adventurous, the song layers Rhodes chimes, harmonica lines, and a single droning, distorted wah-wah into a collage of Radcliffe’s finest moments as both songwriter and producer. “But it’s okay, everybody wastes the time some way,” he sings at his most carefree. It’s the heavy-hearted homeliness of a Microphones’ production with just a touch of the Grateful Dead.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors is out May 12 via Run For Cover Records. Check out the single below.
