Out today, it’s the new LP from SPELLLING, SPELLLING & The Mystery School. The Mystery School is another name for SPELLLING’s live band, and this album finds the group re-recording new versions of tracks off her last three albums, Pantheon Of Me, Mazy Fly, and 2021’s incredible The Turning Wheel, to help reflect the sound of the upcoming live shows, which you can find the dates of below, as well as the sonic evolution of SPELLLING’s divine compositions.

This track sees the band tackling a track off of SPELLLING’s first album Pantheon Of Me, originally named “Choke Cherry Horse”. The first version is a minimal track that featured spindly guitar, whispery vocals and bruising, blown out low end, like if Joanna Newsom’s folk had taken a wrong turn in some haunted district and turned into a ghostly spirit. This recreation keeps the spooky vibe of the original, with its slow build up, the spindly guitar returning, but the jump in fidelity and added instrumentation is like re-watching an old movie that’s been remastered to HD, or changing a film’s aspect ratio to see previously hidden figures. The field of view is bigger, making space for punchy percussion that offers a chunky backbone, and throbbing electronics bring back the same burly low end that previously hulked around in the track but this time without obscuring the other instrumentation. Another feature this new version does is throw in a Deftones kind of breakdown right at the end, with heavy, molasses-like guitars methodically dissolving the whole track into goop, ushering in its demise. It rocks.

Another great thing about this album as a whole is that not every track feels like it’s just “oh we added instrumentation”. These tracks have been reworked, recontextualized, and shows SPELLLING’s versatility as a songwriter and arranger. “Hard To Please (Reprise)” acts like a chamber pop SZA ballad. There’s a darkness that still exists around all of SPELLLING’s music, but there’s also a ton of wonder and imagination, offering a ton of room to explore new sounds. Always shifting and showing off something new.

Catch SPELLLING on tour and likely grip some sick merch. I’ve got a shirt I wear regularly from when I saw her play at LPR in 2021.

09/16 – Oakland, CA @ Childrenʼs Fairyland (Through The Looking Glass Festival)
10/07 – South Pasadena, CA @ South Pasadena Masonic Lodge
10/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
10/17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Hall
10/18 – Baltimore, MD @ OttoBar