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Sep 26, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

Los Angeles-based outfit Spooky Mansion got their start making a feel-good blend of soul, surf rock, and vintage classic rock influences, debuting with their 2018 album, Alright, and following with 2021’s The Curse. In recent years, the band have settled down a bit, with singer/songwriter Grayson Converse falling in love and getting married during the Covid lockdowns. The band also spent the lockdown together, refitting their garage into a studio while writing and recording their new album, What About You?

The result was an unexpectedly creative time for Converse and his bandmates, Rob Mills, Marty Reising and Braden Lyle. Their music has always been breezy and upbeat, but this time they tried to evoke a more pastoral feel. Converse says he was inspired by “living in the country and having a farm and going up in the mountains and all that, and so when I selected the songs, I wanted them to be songs that reflected that more — had the same instrumentation, acoustic guitars and pianos and electric guitars.”

What About You? is due out next month on October 31st. Ahead of the record’s release, the band have shared a handful of early singles, “Weather,” “Saturdays,” and the album’s title track. Today, they’re back with another new track, “The River,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“The River” sees the band leaning hard into classic rock grooves, dotted with saloon piano, organ, and infectious guitar licks. It feels like it could have been taken straight out of Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones, down to Converse’s bluesy vocal delivery and the soul-tinged falsetto harmonies. However, the track works as more than just a pastiche. Converse and company lock in and play off each other seamlessly, capturing the feel of an off-the-cuff jam session they just happened to catch on tape.

Converse says of the track, “Everyone’s got a song about a river - Sam Cooke, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, even Justin Timberlake! I figured it was time to join the ranks of these heavy hitters so I took a stab at it. Want to meet up with the girl you loved and left and now want back? Well you gotta meet her down by the river. I wrote this tune while living at an artist studio in Hunter’s Point, San Francisco. My room had no windows, one bathroom for the entire floor and no shower. But I did have my guitar and a microphone and no one around at night to hear me yell RIVER!!!”

Check out the song and accompanying live video below. What About You? is out everywhere on October 31st.