{"id":63168,"date":"2025-11-12T12:52:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spinstrackingsystem.com\/stssite\/?p=63168"},"modified":"2025-10-24T14:31:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:31:51","slug":"an-lp-navigating-the-beauty-in-darkness-illuminated-by-the-spikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spinstrackingsystem.com\/stssite\/an-lp-navigating-the-beauty-in-darkness-illuminated-by-the-spikes\/","title":{"rendered":"An LP Navigating the Beauty in Darkness, Illuminated by the Spikes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unlike most living things that lean toward the sun for growth, The Spikes\u2019<\/b> latest collection of songs have been harvested in the dark. The growth comes from a poetic process\u2014creating its own life source and a metamorphosis of interpretation. Their LP First Light<\/i><\/b> is steeped in tension, instinct, and emotional residue. Across eight tracks, it moves with quiet force, drifting through fragments of memory, romantic collapse, and strange, half-lit beauty. At its heart is the focus track and music video, \u201cGarden Song,\u201d<\/b> a ballad that captures the rare comfort found in someone else\u2019s arms. This isn\u2019t a record polished for perfection\u2014it leans into the cracks, the atmosphere, and the spaces in between.<\/p>\n

The LP arrives on the heels of two singles: \u201cDancing (In the Palm of My Hand),\u201d<\/b> and \u201cSapling Tree.\u201d<\/b> Their videos, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michael Haussman<\/b> (Madonna, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake<\/i>), further establish The Spikes\u2019 stark visual world and poetic storytelling.<\/p>\n

Iago says, \u201cThis is an album of ethereal beauty. It is cinematic. It is an emotional and personal journey. Musically, it is more stripped back and quieter than my previous material, but it is also a lot more complex. More layered and atmospheric.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the center of First Light<\/i> is the focus track, \u201cGarden Song.\u201d <\/b>Iago shares, \u201cI set out to write a traditional and honest love song. This is probably the most classic song I have written for the album. Or my interpretation of what is classic and traditional is supposed to be. At the time I wrote it, these feelings of love were very strong. What came with this, was a feeling of safety or security. No matter what happens out there in the real world there is always safety in each other\u2019s arms. Or each other\u2019s Garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building on the track\u2019s emotional weight, the visual for \u201cGarden Song\u201d expands the story even further. Where the song itself serves as the record\u2019s emotional anchor\u2014an aching portrayal of vulnerability and connection, the video takes that sentiment and places it in a universal context. \u201cIt gives a different meaning to \u2018Garden Song.\u2019 It becomes a love song which has no boundaries of age, race, sex, or class. All the odd faces found in a Roman neighborhood social club cafe. From old to young. Spanning generations with stories of pain and love carved into their faces. It is odd, sometimes weird, but to me, a very touching video as I sing to old ladies and old men. Not just young girls,\u201d Iago adds.<\/p>\n

But the LP doesn\u2019t sit still in one place for long. Iago shares. \u201cI wanted each song to resonate not only emotionally, but personally with the listener. None of the songwriting is on the nose and it is not so easy to understand my inspiration behind the lyrics. \u2018Dancing (In the Palm of My Hand)\u2019<\/b> is about the Great Gatsby, as a misunderstood man. It traces his feelings and yearning for love. \u2018Sapling Tree\u2019<\/b> is about the experience, inspiration and loneliness in travelling. Not just a trip but the journey of life. To write this, I used the Random Selection cut up method, invented by William Burroughs and used by David Bowie.<\/p>\n

From the storytelling of \u201cBy the Moors\u201d <\/b>to the satirical violence of \u201cElectric Cannibal,\u201d<\/b> each song expands the emotional range of First Light, <\/i>exploring intimacy, destruction, delusion, and longing in lyrical scenes.<\/p>\n

Iago adds, \u201cHow I arrived at each song is my experience. The listener will feel their own experience in hearing it. That\u2019s what I want them to do. I don\u2019t want a song that is directing the listener with a message or a narrative storyline. My intention is for them to feel the emotion of the song, through the music and lyrics, experience it, but interpret that into their own life. Their own feelings of life, love and loneliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Light<\/i> doesn\u2019t offer resolution, it offers resonance. It invites listeners into a world that is both personal and abstract, where emotion carries more weight than meaning. With this debut, The Spikes plant the seeds of something deeper: a sound that isn\u2019t afraid to be tender, unsettling, or unresolved. This is music that doesn\u2019t just speak, it stays with you.<\/p>\n

FIRST LIGHT LP Tracklisting:<\/b><\/p>\n

(Focus Track: \u201cGarden Song\u201d)<\/b><\/p>\n