Spare Spells

“Even with the Rose City’s diverse soundscape, on first listen, you might not think Spare Spells are a Portland band—or a band of the physical world at all, really. Their sound transcends conventional ideas of genre; yet, it calls to mind experimental artists like Tom Waits and has led friends to (half jokingly) call them “desert goth.” VORTEX MAGAZINE “Enchanting in every sense, Spare Spells stirs a cauldron full of reverby psychedelic Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

“Even with the Rose City’s diverse soundscape, on first listen, you might not think Spare Spells are a Portland band—or a band of the physical world at all, really. Their sound transcends conventional ideas of genre; yet, it calls to mind experimental artists like Tom Waits and has led friends to (half jokingly) call them “desert goth.” VORTEX MAGAZINE “Enchanting in every sense, Spare Spells stirs a cauldron full of reverby psychedelic haunt rock and dark synth wave likened to that of a dream where My Bloody Valentine and the Kills are a joint effort.” THE DELI PORTLAND artist of the month, JAN 2017 Keats Rosz (of Dakota Slim / Revelator Rosz) and Justin Shelp (of Elegant Bachelor) began writing conceptual music based around their collective, WE THE HALLOWED, Rosz’s multi-media concepts and sequencing of original kitchen sink percussion. After numerous shows as a duo, they eventually acquired vocalist and keyboardist, Rén Rosz and drummer Joel Hatmaker. There are strong ties to the occult: “Spare” being in reference to Occultist/Painter Austin Osman Spare, and a pun relating to the reserve magick they’d come to rely on and practice amongst hardship. The Desert: The Rosz’s hailing from the low, Southwestern American desert and Shelp from the high, Northwestern desert. SPARE SPELLS Described by friends and fans as “DESERT GOTH” or “OCCULT ROCK” is apparent in their array of influences from Love, Nick Cave, Unwound, Ennio Morricone, Link Wray, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Spacemen 3, Brian Eno and Psychic TV as well as an array of cinematic and visual art influences. Their live debut was on Halloween 2014, where the duo performed with Rosz’s re-edit of the Film Noir, “Detour”, sequenced with their performance, which can be viewed HERE. Their debut E.P., “NEON / NOIR”, released the following Halloween, is a conceptual effort that sets up ideas and characters for a soon-to-be released comic book while exploring original kitchen sink percussion sequencing, western / surf baritone guitar, haunting duets and electronic ambience. Spare Spells released their first full-length, “THE NARROWS”, in May 2017. It is more ambitious with concept, scope, and depth concerning Portland’s industrial urban decay, the occult and a narrative that is accompanied by soon-to-be-released graphic novel. SPARE SPELLS belongs to a group of young artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers unified only their participation with the beliefs and practices of the Portland collective, WE, THE HALLOWED. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

…shrink me down again