Spanish Prisoners Confuse Which Coast They're On

I’ve been sitting on this new Spanish Prisoners extended play for some time now. Perhaps it’s the fact that it was culled from a digital link and hence I have no physical format to sink my teeth into. Computer speakers will never do your music justice, for this moment forth demand your record label sends out actual packaged music (sorry for the rant). Anyways, I was also somewhat turned off by the direction I had imagined Columbus ex-pat Leo Maymind was headed by the title. Los Angeles Guitar Dream somewhat implies that he’s going for the beach, not our beach, but the West Coast bum equipped suncatchers who endlessly rustle the summer Mr. Wilson lost his mind – and that road only leads to the ocean at high-tide. I’m looking at you Black Canary.

I should have listened to the insistent e-mails from Maymind that I listen to this, ‘cause this ex-pat has made good with his new enclave of equally heartbroken/heartglowing NYC musicians. The title track does seem to soak up salty air, but as a vampiric wonderer, looking up at the moon instead of seeing the flesh-burning daylight. I’ve always suggested he has a hefty debt to pay to Oberst, here it’s getting harder to dissuade that thought, but his interplay between mood, be it shy shuffle in the reverberations of organ and effect he surrounds himself in like a comfy security blanket or when he shifts into a more direct point towards the subject of his misery – the city, the lover, the memories. He doesn’t exactly attack, but the guitars are crisp, clean, and punctual. If surf was the order of the day then “Ask Isaac Asimov” is the shell that echoes the waves. I was really taken aback at the amount of cheeriness and melody that floats here – especially considering the beautiful dread of his debut. This reminds me fondly of records by Beulah (sans horns) or the Tyde, bands that weren’t exactly pushing the envelope, but also weren’t exactly digging for pet sounds.

Go to the site. Buy this 7". Listen to their magnificent Daytrotter session. Profess your love, even if it's fleeting.