Spirit Phone
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| Spirit Phone | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 29, 2016 | |||
| Recorded | 2009–2016 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 59:24 | |||
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| Lemon Demon chronology | ||||
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| Neil Cicierega chronology | ||||
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Spirit Phone is the seventh album by Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. Released in 2016, the album was Lemon Demon's first full-length album in eight years.[2] The album was released digitally through Bandcamp on February 29, 2016, and other streaming services the following day.[3] On July 10, 2018, independent label Needlejuice Records announced vinyl, CD and cassette releases, which shipped on October 21, 2018.[4][5]
All tracks were written, performed and recorded by Neil Cicierega. The album's cover art was created by Massachusetts comic book artist Ming Doyle; Cicierega's wife.[6] The song "Sweet Bod" features a guitar solo by Dave Kitsberg of Time Lord rock group Time Crash.[7] The album received generally positive reception and was largely successful, with the track "Touch-Tone Telephone" currently Lemon Demon's most played song on Spotify, surpassing "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny".[8]
History
Shortly after the release of Lemon Demon's 2008 album View-Monster, Cicierega began work on a follow-up which would be released eight years later as Spirit Phone[9].
In July 2009, "Eighth Wonder", a song about the cryptid Gef was made available as an mp3 download on lemondemon.com,[10] followed by a music video for the song posted to his Youtube channel in November of that year.[11] This release was nearly identical to the version heard on Spirit Phone. A demo produced during this time titled "Ivanushka" would later be adapted into Spirit Phone track "Touch Tone Telephone". The original version was eventually released to Neil Cicierega's Patreon in January 2018.[12]
Between 2010 and 2016, Cicierega would tease more early versions of tracks that would eventually appear on Spirit Phone, released online as demos or performed live. In April 2012, an early version of "Reaganomics" was uploaded to Neil's second channel, along with a video accompaniment intended for live shows, edited from clips of Ronald Reagan in his final film role The Killers.[13] Reaganomics would be performed live at the anime convention Youmacon 2012, along with early versions of "As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It", "Ancient Aliens", and "Cabinet Man".[14]
In July 2012, Cicierega posted two unused opening themes for the animated television series Gravity Falls to his Tumblr blog, elements of which would become Spirit Phone bonus tracks "Gravitron",[15] and "Moon's Request" respectively.[16] In October 2014, "When He Died" was released on Patreon.[17]
The album was released digitally on February 29, 2016, followed by a physical release on vinyl, CD and cassette in October 2018 by Needlejuice Records.[9]
Reception
Spirit Phone received generally positive reception, holding a score of 4/5 on AllMusic.[18]
Mashable included "Touch-Tone Telephone" and "Eighth Wonder" on their official 2019 Halloween playlist, calling "Touch-Tone Telephone" one of many "real gems".[19] Cultured Vultures called the horror-themed Spirit Phone "one of the wildest pop albums of the year".[1]
The album was the best-selling album on Bandcamp for the first week of its release.[20]
Track listing
All tracks are written, performed and recorded by Neil Cicierega, except where noted.[21]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lifetime Achievement Award" | 6:07 |
| 2. | "Touch-Tone Telephone" | 4:43 |
| 3. | "Cabinet Man" | 4:23 |
| 4. | "No Eyed Girl" | 4:20 |
| 5. | "When He Died" | 4:34 |
| 6. | "Sweet Bod" (guitar solo by Dave Kitsberg) | 4:11 |
| 7. | "Eighth Wonder" | 4:42 |
| 8. | "Ancient Aliens" | 4:16 |
| 9. | "Soft Fuzzy Man" | 2:54 |
| 10. | "As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It" | 2:53 |
| 11. | "I Earn My Life" | 3:11 |
| 12. | "Reaganomics" | 3:32 |
| 13. | "Man-Made Object" | 3:38 |
| 14. | "Spiral of Ants" | 6:01 |
| Total length: | 59:24 | |
Bonus tracks
The album also contains 13 bonus tracks; consisting of demos, cut songs, and additional music. The following is the track listing of the deluxe bonus CD.[22] On digital services these tracks are arranged in alphabetical order and all subtitled "(Bonus Track)"; and "Sweet Bod (Demo)" is simply named "Sweet Bod".
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Crisis Actors" | 4:48 |
| 2. | "Redesign Your Logo" | 4:21 |
| 3. | "Pizza Heroes" | 1:31 |
| 4. | "You're at the Party" | 5:21 |
| 5. | "Angry People" | 4:54 |
| 6. | "Geocities" | 3:25 |
| 7. | "Angelfire" | 3:41 |
| 8. | "Gravitron" | 0:53 |
| 9. | "Moon's Request" | 2:21 |
| 10. | "Sweet Bod (Demo)" | 4:14 |
| 11. | "Cat Hacks" | 3:07 |
| 12. | "Cabinet Man (Demo)" | 2:41 |
| 13. | "Kubrick and the Beast" | 2:44 |
| Total length: | 1:43:25 | |
The vinyl and cassette releases contain the bonus tracks "Crisis Actors", "Redesign Your Logo", "Pizza Heroes", "You're at the Party" and "Angry People".[23] All physical releases also include a download card for the full album, along with album commentary by Cicierega, except for the CD release which already has the full album and commentary.[24]
References
- ^ a b Leith, Ryan (February 13, 2017). "Album Review: Neil Cicierega – Mouth Moods". Cultured Vultures.
- ^ Cicierega, Neil. (February 26, 2016) "I haven't made a full-length for-sale album since 2008, so this is new to me" Twitter.com
- ^ Cicierega, Neil. (February 29, 2016) "I think I'll release the bandcamp version a little early, after the stream! Everything else should go live by tomorrow morning" Twitter.com
- ^ "Neil Cicierega Tumblr". Neil Cicierega Tumblr. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- ^ Needlejuice Records (October 21, 2018) "Spirit Phone LPs are shipping! Thank you for your patience, as there are a lot of orders to go through. There was a production delay with the Spirit Phone 2-CD set, and so orders containing the CD will ship during the beginning of November." Twitter.com
- ^ "Ming Doyle Tumblr - Neil Cicierega: Spirit Phone". mingdoyle.tumblr.com. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- ^ "Spirit Phone, by Lemon Demon". Lemon Demon. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- ^ "Lemon Demon Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
- ^ a b "Lemon Demon's Spirit Phone Coming to LP, CD, and Casette". Needlejuice Records. July 10, 2018. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
- ^
Swartz, Tim R. (January 4, 2019). "The Eighth Wonder of the World". In Beckley, Timothy Green; Roberts, Paul Dale; Inviticus, Hercules (eds.). Gef The Talking Mongoose: The "Eighth Wonder of the World". Inner Light Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-606-11987-7.
In fact, there is even a song written about him by Lemon Demon called "Eighth Wonder."
- ^ Cicierega, Neil (November 18, 2009), Lemon Demon - "Eighth Wonder", retrieved February 27, 2016
- ^ Cicierega, Neil (January 9, 2018). "Ivanushka | Neil Cicierega on Patreon". Patreon. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ 2Neil2Cicierega (April 27, 2012), Lemon Demon - Reaganomics, retrieved February 27, 2016
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Youmacon (November 4, 2012), Youmacon 2012 - Lemon Demon Concert, retrieved February 27, 2016
- ^ "Neil Cicierega Tumblr". Neil Cicierega Tumblr. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ^ "Neil Cicierega Tumblr". Neil Cicierega Tumblr. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ^ "When He Died". Patreon. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- ^ Spirit Phone - Lemon Demon | User Reviews | AllMusic, retrieved October 5, 2020
- ^ Houghtaling, Ellie (October 11, 2019). "Here's a Halloween playlist for all your spooky music needs". Mashable.
- ^ "Bandcamp". March 6, 2016. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Spirit Phone, by Lemon Demon". Lemon Demon. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ "Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone (CD)". Discogs. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ "Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone". Discogs. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ "Lemon Demon – Spirit Phone". Needlejuice Records. January 6, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
