SPIT VISION ‘THE MORNING HAS GOLD IN ITS MOUTH’
Spit Vision is the “almost…accident[al]” ad hoc hardcore product of duo Jeff Lysczcarz and Ethan Shantie of Sunflo’er initially playing together to fill out bills for shows in Upstate New York when touring bands would drop off. This in-the-moment fluidity continued on into the recording process—like the songs themselves, a streamlined affair of instrumentals being recorded live off the floor over just a handful of days with Tyler Krupsky (ex-Burn) at Pacemaker Audio in Clifton Park, NY, and the vocals over another two with Claude Aldous at Apple End Farm (Potsdam, NY). The duo weren’t even sure how many songs they would end up recording upon entering the studio, but they left with ten seared-throat and anguished tracks sitting at the cross-section of blackened hardcore, the music of Hydra Head Records, and the harried metalcore of a band like The Chariot. Despite the somewhat free-wheeling nature, The Morning Has Gold in Its Mouth—the title of which is “what Jack Nicholson’s character is typing over and over on his typewriter in the Italian version of The Shining,” as Charles Cure of Invisible City Sound Archive, the label that’s releasing the album, told me—doesn’t feel incomplete, incoherent, or slap-dash, and you’re not getting some jam band, although the idea of an act pulling from bands like Trap Them and Cursed as a kind of blackened hardcore Phish is an amusing notion.
The first track on the record, “Real Darkness Has Love For A Face,” opens directionally like a cross between The Banner’s “Devilhawks” and Reign Supreme’s “Guilty” and unfolds as a tight cluster of military-issue carbine rounds to the chest; atmospherically (and musically in some key respects) it reminded me of The Banner’s Greying record. What really stood out, not just on this track but across the album, was just how gnarly and raw a sound they were able to produce, and it’s worth noting here that this comes sans traditional guitar (the band employs a Bass VI). Further, the live recording decision was a smart one, as the energy and intensity come through in spades, having not been “MacBook-ed” to death. “Poindexter” follows in even more visceral—and crunchier—fashion, with the title track, lyrically and vocally reminiscent of Hero In Error’s EP The High Point of New Lows, following. Elsewhere, the doomy, drony with black metal-ish vocals of the first half of “No Ghost is Born Overnight” is particularly notable, and “I Don't Want To Be This Kind Of Animal Anymore” has shades of Every Time I Die’s From Parts Unknown record meets All Pigs Must Die. “Lost Light” opens a bit like the band ISIS and, fittingly, grows into what feels like the sonically amalgamated CliffsNotes of the label rosters of Bridge Nine Records founder Chris Wrenn’s Initech officemates Aaron Turner of Hydra Head Records and Rama Mayo of Big Wheel Recreation as described in Fenway Punk: How a Boston Indie Label Scored Big on Baseball's Greatest Rivalry (you can read my interview with Chris here).
The Morning Has Gold in Its Mouth releases Tuesday, September 1st. It’s a filthy, abrasive album that exhibits brains and brawn both, doesn’t overstay its welcome, and is more than worth your time.
PHOTO CREDIT: DUSTINA HOOPER (@xosteena)