Seattle’s Spiral XP have shared the second preview from their debut album I Wish I Was A Rat (Danger Collective Records), out October 18, 2024. In the instantly memorable “Sinner,” Keyes imagines what it might be like to navigate the world with blind confidence, ultimately concluding that we’re all engaged in the same struggle, which is to find meaning in a culture that only equates value with profit. “I’m a sinner no big deal,” he sings with Farr-Morrissey, “Now I’m playing center field.” The laid-back delivery lends every lyric a revelatory power and playful character studies that tow the line between fiction and diaristic confessions.

“This song is about a lot of things but mainly it’s about how in the end we’re all trying to figure out what’s important and what we value as we navigate and grow in a superficial world,” shares principal songwriter Max Keyes. “It takes on the perspective of someone navigating these things with blind confidence and the hubris that brings. It’s not judgmental, and tries to capture the feeling of chasing after something real and authentic in its own way, even if it’s in a completely fake and frivolous world or social scene.”

Across I Wish I Was A Rat, Max Keyes explores meaning, truth, and value under capitalism. Feeling unmoored by the ambient crush of a culture that prioritizes labor over pleasure, and data points over artistic expression, Keyes withdrew, finding solace in a new passion for songwriting. The resulting 12-song collection navigates late-twenties existential ennui and emerges triumphant, bending feedback drenched guitars into euphoric new shapes, imbued with the timeless stamp of Pacific Northwest melancholy. 

After a string of promising EP’s, Keyes tapped scene veterans Lena Farr-Morrissey (bass, vocals), Jordan Mang (guitar), Kyle McCollum (guitar), and Daniel Byington (drums) to expand his vision on I Wish I Was A Rat, inviting them to augment the songs as they saw fit. “They ended up taking on a life of their own,”  he explains, “that’s a little scary but also thrilling to me.” Keyes and the group enlisted producer JooJoo Ashworth (Corridor, SASAMI, Automatic) and decamped to The Unknown, the legendary Anacortes studio Phil Elverum helped construct in an abandoned church.