Album Review: Beauty Already Beautiful by Spookyland

Spookyland is the best band you may not have heard of this year. Maybe you while away the midnight hours surfing Spotify for indie music (get out of the gutter, my friend) and you’ve heard their amazing first single—called “Big Head”—with its rollicking guitars and lyrics about having an ego problem. Maybe you’ve even seen the peculiar video featuring lead singer Marcus Gordon standing on a bridge in the rain smoking a cigarette as the camera moves around like a drunk college student.

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With each release, the music of Sydney, Australia's Spookyland has only grown grander and more poetic, and Beauty Already Beautiful is no exception. Starting as the rootsy solo project of Marcus Gordon, Spookyland took a big step forward when it became a full-band affair with the 2013 single "The Silly Fucking Thing," and an even bigger one when the group collaborated with producer Tony Buchen on the fittingly named Rock and Roll Weakling EP. Though it was technically their second release, its newfound power -- and fragility -- felt like a true introduction to the band.

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Growing up the younger brother of a Jersey punk rocker, I got used to the idea of songs being political. When it was a tape of a local band coming from his room, sometimes it wasn’t even clear if it was a song. But you knew where the singer stood: KFC was murder and so was property. When I first heard Marcus Gordon of Spookyland’s voice coming out of my speakers, I fully expected the message coming from this singer to bear along a Johnny Rotten-approved anarcho-punk message.

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