“Welcome to hell. We made it ourselves."
Photo by Mitchell Wojcik
While politics is nothing new to Spanish Love Songs’ lyrics, it’s always been the undercurrent that informed their narrative ballads. The band’s newest release, Future Nausea, drops the subtext and firmly plants it front and center, in bold and underlined. The album covers lighthearted topics such as ICE raids, January 6, and the dread of being one hospital visit away from poverty.
Storytelling has always been at the heart of singer Dylan Slocum’s lyricism, poignantly paired with a musical aesthetic that invokes the nostalgia of driving around your hometown long after it stopped resembling the place where you grew up. I lovingly categorize the band as “Springsteen-punk,” right next to The Menzingers and The Gaslight Anthem.
The album’s lead single, “Good American,” even thematically invokes Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” though I doubt it’ll be similarly blasted at a college football game or included in any misguided Fourth of July playlists.
While Springsteen drew attention to the government’s betrayal and neglect of Vietnam veterans, Slocum focuses his ire on the current administration’s abandonment of transgender servicemembers, among other topics. (“Every day is an answer when you ask for the grace to be who you are / you voluntarily separated, no salute for that silver star”).
Slocum’s intentionally shaky delivery adds weight to the words he’s singing, like he’s on the verge of crying but putting on a brave face. (Aren’t we all.)
The songs draw uncomfortable attention to the hypernormalisation that defines the millennial experience. Lines like “If you don’t think about the why, summer in December is pretty nice” and “Nazi raids in mid-October” highlight the faux sense of normalcy Americans are expected to live with. Future Nausea grabs America by the collar, desperately trying to shake her awake.
The music supporting Slocum’s desperate pleas is soaring and surprisingly uplifting, contrasting the pessimistic lyrics with open guitar chords and triumphant synths that let us know there is still hope.
The album ends on an optimistic note (by Spanish Love Songs standards). “Nothing’s over till the sun explodes.” Despite everything going on in the world, there’s a whole lot of living to be had, and a whole lot of good we can do to make things better (preferably before the sun explodes).
By the time you’re reading this, the midterms will have come and gone – I hope you voted.
Let’s hope that by 2028 the themes of Future Nausea will be outdated and the band can finally write an unambiguously happy album. Maybe one that actually features love songs in Spanish.
In the meantime, listen to Future Nausea when it releases on November 6.
