Honored to present a double premiere from Safari Room! Not only are these two tracks new to everyone’s ears but they’re live versions from a DZ Records session recorded at Drkmttr. Safari Room has been gearing up to unleash their third full-length on the world in early 2024 and this will be the sixth and seventh song trickled out before the official release in February. You can hear the previously released tracks over here.
This premiere is happening on Halloween quite intentionally, as both songs tangle with topics fitting for the day. Frontman Alec Koukol tells us that “Groundhog Day” was written about the cycle of darkness when you’re told “things will look better in the morning” but they don’t look any better at all – you’re just right back in the same headspace. It’s a heavy topic but Safari Room wrangles it into a mesmerizing chant and psychedelic unfurling, complete with a repeated vocal plea to turn back time to before things were hard. The second track, “You Are a Ghost,” is a ballad about a relationship grown distant that explodes into a yearning for your partner to open up to move forward (with a helluva haunting bridge).
Both tracks strike an emotional nerve, forelorn and wistful for a previous place in time. If you follow the neopagan tradition of Samhain (from which modern Halloween draws many of its traditions) this is the time of year when the veil between the living world and the past are thinnest. You may not take that literally but it’s an opportunity to reflect and, possibly, deal with some of your own ghosts.
There are many additional Nashville DZ Sessions worth checking out but Safari Room should be your first stop. Koukol and gang make great use of the Drkmttr space, perform fitting songs for the moody lighting and provide a nice preview for their November 6th show opening for Another Michael & Lizdelise. Maybe if we ask real nice, we can get them to play both songs at the show.