ECCE SHNAK – “JEREMY, UTILITARIAN SADBOY”
A SPILL EXCLUSIVE VIDEO PREMIERE
With so much new music flowing out of New York City these days, it should come as no wonder that today we should introduce our readers to the latest output (and first single 2019) from a fantastically quirky band from The Big Apple – namely heavy art-rock quintet Ecce Shnak, who we have also previously supported.
Pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock, the name Ecce Shnak was not chosen arbitrarily, with ‘Ecce’ meaning “Behold!” in Latin and ‘shnokkered’ slang for ‘incoherently intoxicated’, according to founder and frontman David Roush, who formed the band in the mid-noughties, a bend known for their provocative and lavish, yet entertaining performances that are both highly animated and music that is meticulously crafted and intellectually compelling.
reviewing their Shadows Grow Fangs EP – their fourth release to date – is the invigorating single “Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy”, which surrounds an intriguing figure from the 19th Century – English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, whose skull is kept on display at the University of London.
Managing to defy genre-based pigeonholing, in just 150 seconds, Ecce Shnak vigorously fuse metal and math-rock with choral elements. An initial assault of heavy riffs and guttural vocals, before suddenly transmuting with the help of choral flourishes and time-signature changeups. Both jarring and exhilarating, the song progresses until climaxing with a powerful and anthemic conclusion. Mind blown!
Astonishing, Ecce Shnak effortlessly combines math-metal, post-rock and choral anthems in just 150 seconds. Opening with a ferocious roar and a knotty, funk-metal riff, it’s interrupted by bursts of Queen-like harmonies and witchlike wails before punching on through before transitioning to bewitching keyboards and a bridge that would set off a cemetery mosh, only for a stern choral coda to arise like you’re now in a chapel coming around from an inadvertent knockout.
A 5-piece made up of David Roush (vocals, electric guitar/bass), Isabella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (electric guitar), Gannon Ferrell (electric guitar/bass), Henry Vaughn (drum kit), Ecce Shnak is one part pop music, another part classical music and a third part punk music, creating songs about love, sex, death, change, bravery, and food.
“Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy” is a prog-punk psychiography of the father of utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham. Though he was a staunch advocate for basic social services for poor and working people, Bentham was also a tragically confused do-gooder who promoted solitary confinement for prisoners. His single weirdest move was neither good nor bad, but pretty morally neutral: he had his body taxidermied after he died so that his students could muse upon his body as a no-biggie, just a “stale instrument”,” says David Roush.
“The comedic tragedy of Bentham’s life is a fascinating story that raises many complicated questions around happiness, suffering, justice, politics, and the role of mortality in human life. However, in the wake of his confused advocacy for solitary confinement, a more straightforward message emerges in light of the injustices of the modern era. Regardless of any of the good intentions of its architects, our system of incarceration and policing is pointlessly brutal. It needs to be challenged and transformed: for the incarcerated, for undocumented people, for those on death row, and for their loved ones.”
An art-rock synthesis of pop music, heavy and classical music, Shadows Grow Fangs EP (out in early 2025) is a raucous adventure through these styles that concludes with a folk song, a first for the band. Showcasing limitless invention, these five songs run the gamut from slow-burning meditations on love’s indispensability to mockery of the web from the perspective of a time-travelling poet, and much more.
Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci at the Art Farm (NY), the EP was mixed by Nicholas Vernhes (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, The Fiery Furnaces, Dirty Projectors, Wild Nothing, The War on Drugs) and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Greg Calbi (John Lennon, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Todd Rundgren).
Roush, who once lived opposite Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, designed in line with English social reformer Jeremy Bentham’s 1791 circular prism plan, shares. “He said a criminal can redeem himself by contemplation on the crime and restoration in solitude, a really cute, liberal idea that was modified horrifically to the point where we have the brutal practice of solitary confinement. A friend was working for their ‘Halloween Haunted Prison Experience’, so they were like ‘zombie’ prisoners, which was kind of funny, kind of absurd, but, in another way, horrible when you think about the reality. And I said, ‘Well, shit, I guess I have to write this song.’ So I went to the library, got a bunch of books and read.”
Released via NYC-based imprint Records Man, Records, “Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy” is available from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Bandcamp. The same night, they lead the bill for the Shnakoween Burlesque Ball at Red Pavilion in Brooklyn, joined by Jack Powers and OBOY!
CREDITS
Music written / composed by David Roush
Vocals by David Roush and Isabella Komodromos
Keyboard by David Roush
Electric guitar & bass by Jeff Lucci
Drums by Erik Scattareggia
Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci at the Art Farm (NY)
Mixed by Nicholas Vernhes
Mastered by Greg Calbi
Video directed by Milton Walker and David Roush
Produced by Beth Narducci and David Roush
Artist photos by Tommy Krause
A&R: Beth Narducci for You + Me Entertainment
Publicity by Shauna McLarnon for Shameless Promotion PR
Ecce Shnak
[Single]
(Records Man, Records)
Release Date: October 30, 2024
Artist Links
Background Photo Credit: Tommy Krause
