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Jun 04, 2019 By Stephen Axeman Spirits Having Fun

Chicago-via-NYC post-punk experimentalists Spirits Having Fun have shared a new single, “Gift Shopping,” off of their forthcoming album, Auto-Portrait, due out June 28 via Ramp Local, and we are pleased to premiere it. The single finds the band combining an eclectic palate that calls to mind the precision and drive of early ‘90s alt-rock mixed with the shifting, oblique melodies and dynamic rhythms of kKautrock and even, at times jazz. Check out the single, as well as album art, a pre-order link, and tour dates below.

On the making of the track guitarist Andrew Clinkman had this to say in a statement to Under the Radar: “‘Gift Shopping’ is from the earliest batch of songs we wrote the first time we got together as a band in late 2016. I brought in some scraps of material I had written. With the melody, I wanted to avoid repeating pitches, and favor dissonant sequences over consonant ones. I feel really strongly that dissonance can have an expressive power all its own without being framed as a foil to “nicer” sounds. Once we were together, it was the process of the four of us tossing around ideas, improvising our own parts over that foundation in real time that brought the song to life. Thematically the song for us is descriptive of a bleak late capitalism consumer landscape. Sometimes being a touring band in 2019 is playing awesome shows and meeting new people, but it is also making frequent pit stops in between cities in the Midwest, spending a lot of time in Kroger parking lots.”

Spirits Having Fun is Katie McShane, Jesse Heasly, Andrew Clinkman, and Phil Sudderberg. Auto-Portrait is the group’s debut album.

Spirits Having Fun Tour Dates:

June 29th - Madison, WI @ Mickey’s Tavern
July 1st - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
July 2nd - Indianapolis, IN @ State Street Pub
July 3rd - Asheville, NC @ Fleetwood’s
July 5th - Athens, GA @ Go Bar
July 6th - Religh, NC @ Eno River Festival
July 7th - Washington D.C. @ Dwell
July 9th - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
July 10th - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
July 11th - Boston, MA @ Dorchester Art Project
July 12th - Greenfield, MA @ Root Cellar

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