– Consequence
March 15, 2023, PITTSBURGH – Spotlights, the buzzy trio featuring married couple Mario and Sarah Quintero with drummer Chris Enriquez, have released a second song, and video, from the recently announced forthcoming album, Alchemy For The Dead (April 28, Ipecac Recordings): https://youtu.be/vBxPz6nnthw.
“’Sunset Burial’ is a self-reflective story about what goes through our minds while waiting to die,” explains Mario Quintero of the John Pope-directed video, which debuted yesterday via Revolver (https://www.revolvermag.com/music/see-spotlights-eerie-video-epic-new-song-sunset-burial). “What it’s like to deal with feeling something as inevitable as death, and the last minute hope and fear that goes with it. All the while, feeling the calm and relief of passing on.”
The track is the second preview of the nine-song collection, with the band previously unveiling a visualizer for “Algorithmic” (https://youtu.be/19TqHZBUOgY). Consequence said of the single: “The thick tones and melodic vocals invoke Nine Inch Nails and the densely mixed recordings of Failure, melding elements of industrial, sludge metal, and dark alt-rock.”
The band have simultaneously released the Seance EP, a five-song digital release featuring “Algorithmic” and “Sunset Burial” with three non-album bonus tracks: “Unalive,” “Should Time Stand Still” and “Your Morning Kill.”
?Alchemy of the Dead, written and recorded following the band’s move to Pittsburgh, finds the trio once again balancing the tightrope of light and dark, toying with sonic texture, and as Invisible Oranges described Spotlights’ unique “magic” that’s “flickering with unnamable emotionality.” Mario Quintero shares the band’s mindset while writing and recording Alchemy For The Dead: “Our focus when making this record was to not repeat ourselves. I think we achieved our goal. Though we’re proud of all our releases, making just another ‘Spotlights’ album wasn’t an option. Pushing our own boundaries while creating something cathartic, yet strangely suffocating, with new sounds and textures as well as more personal and self-reflective themes, this album feels like a new fork in the path for us. Hopefully the listeners will follow.”
Album pre-orders, which include two 2LP vinyl variants: a standard black version and a limited-edition gold edition available exclusively via Ipecac.com and on the band’s upcoming Alchemy For The Dead tour, can be found here: https://spotlights.lnk.to/AFTD. Vinyl is slated for an Aug. 4 release.
Alchemy For The Dead tour:
April 26 Pittsburgh, PA Club Café
April 27 Grand Rapids, MI Pyramid Scheme
April 28 Chicago, IL Subterranean Downstairs
April 29 Tolono, IL Loose Cobra
April 30 St. Louis, MO Red Flag
May 1 Kansas City, MO Mini Bar
May 3 Denver, CO Hi Dive
May 4 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
May 6 Sacramento, CA Club Colonial
May 7 San Francisco, CA Winters Tavern
May 10 Pomona, CA Fox Theater *
May 11 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium*
May 12 San Diego, CA Tower Bar
May 14 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues*
May 16 Denver, CO Mission Ballroom*
May 17 Salt Lake City, UT Union Event Center*
May 19 Seattle, WA Showbox*
May 20 Seattle, WA Showbox*
May 21 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom*
May 23 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*
May 24 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*
May 27 Denton, TX Andy’s Bar
May 28 Austin, TX Hotel Vegas
May 30 Tulsa, OK Whittier Bar
May 31 Shreveport, LA Bear’s
June 1 Little Rock, AR Mutants Fest
June 2 Nashville, TN Drkmttr
June 3 Atlanta, GA The Earl
June 4 Gainesville, FL The Backyard
June 9 Miami, FL Gramp’s
June 10 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
June 11 Orlando, FL Will’s Pub
June 12 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
June 13 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern
June 14 Charlotte, NC Snug Harbor
June 15 Asheville, NC The Odd
June 16 Knoxville, TN The Pilot Light
June 17 Louisville, KY Kaiju Bar
June 18 Columbus, OH Big Room Bar
June 21 Harrisonburg, VA The Golden Pony
June 22 Baltimore, MD Metro Gallery
June 23 Philadelphia, PA Ortlieb’s
June 24 Brooklyn, NY Saint Vitus
*-Ipecac Geek Show performances
Birdhands open on dates between April 27 to May 1. Rile open from May 3 to May 6. Dates between May 11 and 24 are the Ipecac Geek Show with labelmates Mr. Bungle and the Melvins.
Alchemy For The Dead tracklist:
1. Beyond The Broken Sky
2. The Alchemist
4. Algorithmic
5. False Gods
6. Repeat The Silence
7. Ballad In The Mirror
8. Crawling Toward The Light
9. Alchemy For The Dead
Spotlights is Mario Quintero (guitar, vocals, keys), Sarah Quintero (bass, vocals) and Chris Enriquez (drums). The band has released three albums to date: Tidals (2016), Seismic (2018) and Love & Decay (2019). Consequence praised their “unique amalgam of sounds that is both heavy and heavenly,” Brooklyn Vegan said Spotlights “balances the pretty with metallic sludge,” and Invisible Oranges said they thrive “on the ambient and krautrock inspired edges of post-metal.” In the wake of their 2020 EP We Are All Atomic, Kerrang! observed, “That a band as heavy and romantic as Spotlights have become a fixture in the rock scene Is impressive; that they’ve done it in such a short period of time is tremendous.”
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