Chicago collective Spirits Having Fun's “Auto-Portrait” is a juddering rollercoaster ride

14 May 2019, 20:16 | Written by Bryony Holdsworth

(Tracks)

(Spirits Having Fun)

Spirits Having Fun make music which is enchantingly idiosyncratic. On their sophomore single “Auto-Portrait”, fragments of genres are chopped up and synthetically spliced back together in a disjointed puzzle, and somehow each piece perfectly slots together.

Opening with a frantic guitar riff, the track then staggers into pounding drum kicks and explosive electronic melodies, taking on a life of its own. “Auto-Portrait” is an untethered juggernaut, lurching and shuddering with an uncontrollable, tumultuous energy.

“'Auto-Portrait’ is about home and the places and things which give me comfort,” Katie McShane from the band explains. “The song deals with memories of the stuff I bought and the natural places that I cherish. It's about me taking and retaking a shapeshifting inventory of experiences that, when felt as a whole, define me. ‘Picking peaches in my mind’ is how I describe the feeling of drawing from my life to create art, whereas ‘sine wave solution’ is me saying that making music makes life make sense.”

Describing their affinity for each other as “collaborative magic”, the quartet blend a mix of jazz, synth-pop, ska and punk into their deliciously diverse tracks, whipping the listener into an apocalyptic frenzy.

“Auto-Portrait” is out now via Ramp Local, with their debut album out in June. Find Spirits Having Fun on Facebook.