The Special Pillow play psych-pop music with inroads into roots rock, drones, noise, and West Coast harmonizing. With a resume like that the underground is the place where they will find an audience and they have done so since they were founded in Hoboken, NJ, 20 odd years ago. Their latest album Sleeping Weird finds them exploring their favourite genres, mixing them up, pulling it apart and reassembling it again to create concise songs. They love to jam, but always keep it short.
There is a looseness and free-flowing spirit in the music. Lyrically they take cues from The Kinks and They Might Be Giants. They can be sardonic (All My Exes Live in Vortexes), harsh (Flaming Skull) and in awe of things (A Billion Years Ago). The title track is a mash-up of The Jim Carroll Band and Fairport Convention: energetic garage rock and violin driven folk within the same song. With their sixth album chock full of eclectic goodness they confirm their status as an essential underground band.
The Special Pillow:
Dan Cuddy: bass, vocals
Katie Gentile: violin, viola, vocals
Peter Stuart: guitars, vocals
Eric Marc Cohen: drums, percussion, vocals
Sleeping Weird is a self-released album. Buy it (vinyl, CD, digital) from their website.
Tracks:- Gilded Shrug
- A Billion Years Ago
- Flaming Skull
- Catch Your Breath
- Her Dogs
- Cryogenic Tomb
- Thought Bubble
- Sleeping Weird
- All My Exes Live in Vortexes
- Hudson River Dreamboat
- Paleolithic Axe
- 09/21 Hoboken, NJ @ Issyra Gallery
(Sleeping Weird Record Release Party w/ The Sloppy Heads and Despite Straight Lines) - 11/13 Jersey City, NJ @ Pet Shop
(w/ The Royal Arctic Institute And Comma, Space)
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