You want me to age myself? I first heard The Thermals when in my freshman year of college, our campus radio station got a copy of Now We Can See in the mail. I would sneak the title track (among other great Thermals tracks like “No Culture Icons” and “A Pillar of Salt”) into my playlists every week.
Now we’re here in the big 2-6, and The Thermals have returned after ten years of inactivity with a new single, “Spirit Collectors”. The new track will appear on a new Thermals album, Under Crushing Rain, out September 4th. The regeneration of the band looks much like it did when it began in 2002, with Hutch Harris working in quick-and-dirty DIY fashion to put out solid music.
Fans of the band will welcome the new song returning to the sounds of their debut, More Parts Per Million: Scratchy production, fuzzy guitars, Hutch’s voice hitting nasal registers while singing in a timbre close to a snarl. Hutch says about coming back to the band after a decade: “I missed The Thermals. The noise, the nerves, and the chaos that the band always embodies. The exuberance, the raw power, and the punctuality!”
“Spirit Collectors” has all of the above. While it has a little more polish than the band’s earliest work, it still packs plenty of lo-fi punch, carrying with it the urgency of Hutch having to write and record the music in the moment. And as for those who may ponder “Punctuality?”: This may be the first Thermals release in ten years, but it’s come out right on time. Hutch sings of evil fiends without arts of their own, whose mission is to take from those who work hard to create culture or build infrastructure or provide for their communities. “These,” he says, “are the Spirit Collectors! Spirit Collectors come for you every day. Don’t let them pull your teeth!”
In fact, if anyone is going to destroy Hutch, it’s going to be himself. As he sings in the lyrics, seemingly paraphrasing Abe Lincon’s Lyceum Address: “I am mine alone to wreck; this is the lot God gave to me / So when they come to collect, they will find nothing left / Except a fire that feeds on the fetid breath they breathe / Their hate will pass to ashes in a day and blow away.”
I assume you are wondering to whom Hutch refers when invoking these “spirit collectors”. Please direct yourself to a montage of news reports since November 2016. Again: Punctual! Timely! Poignant!
The bottom line is that this is a wonderful return to form for The Thermals, and it’s nice to hear Hutch bring back the band’s classic sound for a new era. Of course, fellow former bandmate Kathy Foster is still part of the gang. Hutch says: “She’s right here, sitting next to me working hard on the layout for the LP… Not only did I have Kathy’s blessing to make a Thermals LP, I had her help as well.”
Hutch says that the tracks on Under Crushing Rain are some of the best songs he has ever written, and so as a longtime fan, I’m looking forward to the new album in September. For now, “Spirit Collectors” makes for a grand preview. Take a listen to the new single below.
Written by Will Sisskind
