Slaughter Beach, Dog - At The Moonbase [LP]

Few bands can say they were born out of necessity, but Slaughter Beach, Dog can. In 2015, Jake Ewald, in the midst of trying to write songs for his other band Modern Baseball (which has since gone on hiatus), hit a patch of writer's block. To get himself back in action, Ewald decided to move the focus off of himself, stitching together a loose narrative surrounding a motley cast of characters. Before he knew it, he'd written an entire album, and Slaughter Beach, Dog was no longer an exercise, it was a full-fledged band.

At the Moonbase, the fourth full-length album from Slaughter Beach, Dog, is a return to form for Philadelphia bandleader Jake Ewald. Written and recorded alone at home and at The Metal Shop, Ewald's East Kensington recording studio, the album tracks an exercise in solitary production not unlike Slaughter Beach, Dog's 2016 debut Welcome or 2017's Motorcycle. JPG. On the heels of 2019's Safe and Also No Fear, Ewald's latest offering brings expanded arrangements and sharpened storytelling as he taps into salad days over slacker rock ("Do You Understand"), the dark grooves of seedy city life ("Song for Oscars"), and even a barroom-piano-driven "escapade through the great American bedroom" ("A Modern Lay"). At the Moonbase arrives March 26th on Lame-O Records.