Hear Alberta & the Dead Eyes groove through new song “Spiff”
On March 15, Alberta & the Dead Eyes release their new album Give or Take via Dead Eyes Collective. It follows their recently released Ghost Kitty EP, and today they’ve shared a new song from the album, “Spiff.” The song carries a swampy groove with a bit of a mid-1970s tint to it a la peak Fleetwood Mac, but with a rich backing of organ and layers of vocal harmonies that rise into a brief moment of transcendence that fades nearly as soon as it arrives. But vocalist Dave Boone’s hollers and yelps make the path to and from that climactic chorus just as fun. Hear “Spiff” below.
Boone said in a statement, “False hope or pure will sums up this song quite a bit. The narrator never lets on too much here one way or the other. An edge of confidence makes one believe both characters (the narrator and whomever they are talking to) will get out of whatever they are in. The last line, ‘We know what we’re in for this time.’” Yeah. I have some confidence there; I still don’t know if I believe it. I know I want to by the end of this tune. I think that’s the whole point of this song. Even the bass part mimics that sentiment, swimming back and forth from root note hard rhythm to kind of solo counter melody.”
Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.