Exclusive Track Premiere: ‘True Believer,’ Spirit Animal

ABOVE: SPIRIT ANIMAL. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX PINES.

Finding inspiration in everything from early ’90s rap and trip-hop, such as Outkast and Tricky, to more classic songwriters like Tom Petty and the Talking Heads, New York-based quartet Spirit Animal creates a fusion of rock and pop, placing their strongest focus purely on energy. Following last year’s This is a Test EP, next Friday, October 30, marks the release of their sophomore EP World War IV via Wind-up Records and here we’re pleased to premiere the track “True Believer.”

“The emotional premise of this song took some serious turns,” frontman Steve Cooper explains. “When the verse was coming together, it felt like a straight-ahead tale of love crumbling…But when the chorus started to take shape things changed.”

As Cooper continues, losing a lover doesn’t always result from your own actions or insecurities. Rather, it can happen because of a change in your lover’s life. “Think of a classic ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ situation, but one where you actually believe them,” he says. “The song flips into this idea of encouraging the other person to stay how they are, to remain the person you’re in love with. It’s inherently sad, but you’re on the offensive this way, instead of the defensive.”

Cooper, who sings and plays the Moog, is joined by Ronnen Evron on the drums, Paul Michel on bass, and Cal Stamp on guitar. Together, the men play energetic live shows and write music infused with each of their own personalities. ” ‘True Believer’ really shows the eight-sided dice that we typically roll to write,” Cooper continues. For World War IV, in particular, the writing process was “A choose your own adventure of pop. It was exciting because we were discovering new ways Spirit Animal songs could work.”

FOR MORE ON SPIRIT ANIMAL, VISIT THE BAND’S WEBSITE.