Though clocking in at only 14 minutes, the project follows a cogent arc, as the band and various guests, including Kevin Devine and Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin, traverse the tundra of disillusionment and egoic right-sizing. Unsurprisingly, Brief Intermission, like 2023’s No Joy and 2020’s Brave Faces Everyone, brims with distinct earworms.
On “Lifers Too”, Slocum articulates anger (at his parents’ generation), guilt (about the actions of his own generation), fear (for the entire species), and apathy (as a result of being thoroughly overwhelmed). In Springsteenian (and Keatsian) fashion, he sings of “carrying a boulder” and wanting to shrug it off his shoulders. His melody is off-the-charts hooky, framed by sleek keyboards, jangly arpeggios, and ringing power chords.
The intro to “Cocaine & Lexapro” recalls The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”. Slocum reflects on “a time and a place / … when I was living ok and living cheap”. Elegant synths and catchy guitars chug along. Devine offers a buoyant vocal part. While Spanish Love Songs have certainly mined the rich soils of memory before, here there’s removal, objectivity. Nostalgia is present, as is a charged brand of acceptance.
A listener gathers fairly quickly that Brief Intermission is not so much a pause between acts as a transition set, marking a movement from one phase of life to another. If Spanish Love Songs have long been rooted in Romanticism – being trapped in the conditioned self juxtaposed with a yearning for transcendence – here they loosen their attachments. There is indeed life beyond craving and aversion, beyond grief and dissonance. Highlighting this, The Mountain Goats-esque “Heavenhead” deals with attraction, repulsion, resentment, regret, and the idea of moving on (forgiveness). Tudzin’s guest spot is punk-inspired, dripping with infectious energy.
Closer “Berlin” is built around spacious synth sounds, Slocum addressing identity and how we inevitably outgrow who we think we are. “I push it all away / I chase the details of your face”, he sings, eulogizing not only a friend or partner but also a part of himself that has been frayed (and rendered obsolete) by time and experience. He’s now free to be anyone, yet he grieves the loss of the people he’s been. He appreciates not being tethered to any particular self-conception, but questions how to proceed in the absence of a fixed identity.
With Brief Intermission, Spanish Love Songs move beyond doom-and-desire tableaux and tackle thorny existential issues. Unbridled indignation, overt nihilism, and bang-your-head-against-a-wall rebelliousness have given way to grounded reflections and an expanded historical view. Additionally, Spanish Love Songs' songwriting remains exemplary, their hook-craft incomparable. The sequence overflows with eloquence, swagger, humbleness, and pop virtuosity.
