With the first strum of the first chord of the new single “Blueberry Skies,” I felt an immediate fraternity with the band Loser Company. First, a shaky tremolo guitar slowly works its way down a descending melodic progression. Then bass, drums, and piano enter the mix over the course of the next few bars.
At around the thirty second mark, the band is joined a raspy singer who had too many cigarettes and too little sleep. Finally the psychedelic slacker scene is complete, and I am hooked.
Los Angeles based Loser Company is the brainchild of musicians Will Saunders and Mas Kihira. They describe the project as, “a merger of musicians with nothing left to lose.”
To me, their brand of melodic Indie Rock feels like home. This is the sound of two dudes with a record collection in which the music of nineties Alternative legends sits comfortably next to that of sixties Classic Rock masters. All of it is on vinyl, of course.
On the Shoulders of Hungover Giants
Somewhere out there in the void, in some parallel universe, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles got high together and wrote a song. Thirty years later, members of Pavement joined Social Distortion and The Flaming Lips to collaborate on a cover of the tune. That recording is “Blueberry Skies.”
If you are unfamiliar with any of those artists, you should go listen to their entire catalogs right now. Loser Company is well acquainted with these and other masters of the DIY pop aesthetic. And the group learned well under their tutelage. As a result, their music stands on the shoulders of shaky, hungover giants. And “Blueberry Skies” is three minutes of stoner Garage Pop perfection.
The band’s new EP will hit all streaming platforms on December 7th. The single is currently available on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Check it out here, and follow the links below to connect with Loser Company.