big thanks go out to ct scramble for putting this one on my radar. last friday, eel people (rex thurstan) released two new songs: “thought i was misunderstood (but i was misunderstood)” and “life”. the songs come hot on the trails of forgiving my humanity, which came out… *looks at calendar*… a month ago. i hope you’ve had enough time to digest that record, but eel people is already on to new material! and for what it is worth, of his 2019 material, “thought i was misunderstood…” might be one of his best songs yet.
the a-side, “thought i was misunderstood (but i was misunderstood)” is a mid-era pavement riff, a “slacker-rock” jaunt that goes down smooth. easy comparisons can be made to palehound or car seat headrest, with its casually-delivered emotional pangs within a modern framework: “is this a netflix special? cue the applause. emotional missle”, thurstan sings in one memorable lyric. the b-side, on the other hand, could not be more different. “life” is a wandering sound collage of ambient noise, field-recordings of voices, and drone. its runtime stretches past 7 minutes, so feel free to kick your feet up, raise the volume, and let the song guide you somewhere. compared to “thought i was misunderstood”, “life” leaves the listener on a happier note. that’s right, dear reader — this song pairing starts off with palehound and ends with explosions in the sky.
and thurstan is already putting the final touches on his next album. no, i’m not making that up.
