RIYL: Kate Bush, Destroyer, Soup Dragons

Label: Empty Cellar

The attached track below is from band Emotional and their new release: Ahh… The Name’s Emotional, Baby!

It opens with some real thumpin’ drums and it paints a vivid soundscape that feels like the best of Kate Bush and the Soup Dragons, and then the vocals start and then I spent the next 3 minutes wondering if this singer was somehow related to Dan Bejar of Destroyer fame with his delivery and groovy voice that tucked me in last night.

This release is limited to just 1,000 records total with only 300 of the variant and another 700 available on black.

If you are interested in this then you better act fast as they keep selling records literally as I type this.

The Details

Emotional is the spiritual manifestation of songwriter, singer, director, and Death Records founder Brian Wakefield. Wakefield, a San Jose native, has been a humble mainstay of the San Francisco music community since the early ‘00s, working with various bands, most notably the “dream pop quartet” Melted Toys. Wakefield has also served as a sideman to Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Cotillion, and Healing Potpourri. Emotional was initially embarked upon as an experimental side pop project to Melted Toys—it now serves as the signature vessel for Wakefield’s personal songwriting.



Ahh…The Name's Emotional, Baby! arrives as a multi-label effort that will awaken a passionate surrender of humility and guilty pleasure. Following his heroes Kate Bush, Gram Parsons, and The Smashing Pumpkins, Wakefield casts a spell of irresistible tangy guitar reverb, bending synths, and candid melodies. It is a pop record, it is a true story, and it is a testament to the modern state of feelings. Written and recorded over the course of two-years with producer Ole Haarstad (Melted Toys), multi-instrumentalist Emmet Moskowitz, a.k.a., “Muzzy” (Froogy’s Groovies), and mastered by Patrick Haight (Spot-On Sound), the LP features guest appearances by vocalist Ryan Grubbs (Tiaras, Ganglians) and guitarist Adam Finken (Male Gaze, Tiaras, Blasted Canyons). It is the stoney memory of that impossible psychic love that shared an appreciation of Taco Bell. It is the tale of an artist who boldly says, “It’s okay to be emotional.”



Out 2/19 via Burger Records, Danger Collective, Death Records, Empty Cellar, Gnar Tapes, Grabbing Clouds, Little L, & Plastic Response. Pressing is limited to 300 records on clear purple with cream splatter, and 700 on black with artwork by Muzzy Moskowitz.



Price $15