What Life Would Be Like: With Sprig

Music

Mar 31

Sprig released “What Life Would Be Like” last Wednesday, March 24th. The driving dance EP is a mix of the guitar stylings of Julien Baker and the dreamy vocals of Phoebe Bridgers. The guitar style is haunting, repetitive, and trance-like, with vocals and lyrics that cut through it all.

I’m better off asleep

Sprig (vocalists/lead guitar Hannah Stomski), teamed up with producer Heather Jensen (Pinky Verde) who also appeared on guitar/harmonies. Her touring band also joined her for recording including Ross Page on drums, and Kevin Earl (Kevin Earl) donning the bass.

“[What Life Would Be Like] is for those who have ever dug up the past to feel alive again...only to find themselves deeply disappointed.”

The EP opens up with my favorite song, Remi. The guitar line that begins the song is so familiar it feels familial, yet it is so new to my ears all at once. Completely current and interesting, the song is toplined with extremely modern lyrics. Remi is clearly their top hit and has been finessed with playing it live over and over. However, their journey as a band with live performances got cut short due to covid.

So, the two other songs on the EP have been more studio productions, with Fun only being played a few times live. With that being said, these songs are as polished as Remi. Fun captures a theme I love; extreme revelation, no matter how painful. The realization that something that once brought happiness now brings nothing. To me, it’s finding a new song I love only to listen to it 300 times in one day and wake up and wonder what I found so special about it in the first place?

What is this EP about?
"What Life Would Be Like" is an ode to those who dance in the painful world of "what ifs." It’s about living in dissociation and finding comfort within the mind for the satisfying possibilities it can create. It’s for those who have ever dug up the past to feel alive again, only to find themselves deeply disappointed.

“We don’t live forever”

The EP closes out with “Sleep Paralysis.” This song captures the feeling of showing up when half of you is still drifting elsewhere. Maybe asleep, maybe in your mind, maybe with the person you’d rather be with. I love the guitar line that comes in and out (:43 seconds), acting almost as a swinging pendulum bringing me deeper into my hypnosis. If the instrumental track wasn’t cool enough, Sprig’s vocals fit inside of this song and swim in the sea of sleep.

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