Song of the Day: The Space Merchants - Mainline the Sun

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Mainline the Sun” by The Space Merchants from the 2015 album The Space Merchants on Auqualamb.

The Space Merchants - Mainline the Sun (MP3)

A self-proclaimed "country band traveling through space," Brooklyn four piece The Space Merchants live up to their name by taking the twang and drive found in the best of country and convey it through lo-fi psych rock, making the perfect sound for journeying through space. On today's featured son, "Mainline the Sun", male and female vocals trade off, weaving catchy lines over a sparkling organ and subdued guitar. Eventually, the guitar distortion builds and runs loose, transitioning to a breakdown that highlights the band's knack for balancing catchy country influenced song writing with heavier psych instrumentation. It's clearly music made for space but it sounds just as nice down here on Earth.

The Space Merchants assure that a tour announcement is coming, claiming that they just need to "run a few more tests to ensure mission safety." In the meantime, keep up with the band on their Facebook and Bandcamp pages, and check out the video for "1000 Years of Boredom", another song from the self-titled album: