New record from King of Spain out TODAY || New MP3 || Tour Dates || Album Stream

Photo: Brandi Slate

"Although the group has grown bigger, the sound remains ethereal bedroom pop. 'Motions,' off sophomore effort All I Did Was Tell Them The Truth And They Thought It Was Hell, reverberates and meanders through loose structure and hazy guitars." - MAGNET

MP3: King of Spain - "Motions"

Video: King of Spain - "Motions"

With Entropy, King of Spain was Matt Slate.  A one-man band armed with a guitar and a laptop. After many years of building up to and releasing Entropy, an album filled with atmospheric and lyrical ups and downs of someone attempting to find a balance in life. Things have settled down for Slate, expanding to a duo in life and within the band (Slate married his lovely wife in 2011 and added bassist/songwriter Daniel Wainright to KOS in 2009).  Both additions have added a sense of drive and creative focus, resulting in the bizarrely titled, but wonderfully crafted All I Did Was Tell Them The Truth And They Thought It Was Hell.

Recorded entirely at home, the duo have issued a fulfilling long-player that builds on it's predecessor's ambience and laid-back beats, more than hinting at a new direction for the band. Slate says "I think AIDWTTTTATTIWH is simultaneously darker and more pop-oriented.  The arrangements are more realized with the addition of a second songwriter." 

Of the songs themselves, he says of "Motions" (the lead off single and video for the album): "It's attempting to find meaning in life amongst the monotony and mundaneness of daily existence. We get into patterns as we are required to perform the same tasks and behaviors on a daily basis. Sometimes it's difficult, albeit not impossible, to not get bogged down with this. The song is about these feelings, and how they are a road block, keeping us from experiencing and enjoying life."
  

King of Spain - "Basement Fires" (via The Vinyl District)

"'Green Eyes' is certainly a song that stands out for me. It is King of Spain's first attempt at anything that could be considered a "love song." I wanted to also convey the fear and anxiety that one experiences along with new love."

"'Perception' is a new concept for us, as it is the first song we've ever written that is truly about us as a band, more specifically about us as a band, writing, recording, and releasing this album. It's about the emotional roller-coaster that come along with the process." 

Mellow and moody, it's music that moves you while making you move.

Tour dates:

08.29 · Athens, GA - Caledonia Lounge
08.30 · Charleston, SC - Tin Roof
08.31 · Winston Salem, NC - The Garage
09.01 · Richmond, VA - The Camel
09.03 · Brooklyn, NY - The Cameo
09.04 · New York, NY - Pianos
09.06 · Youngstown, OH - Lemon Grove
09.07 · Columbus, OH - Tree Bar
09.09 · Chicago, IL - Township
09.10 · Memphis, TN - P&H Cafe
09.11 · Chattanooga, TN - JJ's Bohemia

"Entropy is an artful collection of intricately crafted electro-folk songs, built with pulsating guitars, strange ambient sounds and looped vocal parts that showcase Slate's distinctively raspy voice. It's a refreshingly rich and unpredictable mix drenched in reverb and spacious effects."
- NPR

"King of Spain creates intricate songs, full of sincere emotion, released by adding pastoral guitar notes and repeating melodies at just the right moments. It took Matt Slate 5 years to get back to writing songs again and while the wait was worth it his music is too good to be kept away for that long again." 

- Delusions of Adequacy

"Entropy instantly launches you into a dreamscape of airy spacious melodies and effects. Tantalizing pop hooks are marred by nothing, not even the small recording budget, and find a special place wrapped tightly inside of emotional verses and words with a slight nod to ambient pop ala Brian Eno. Simply stunning." 

- Smother.net

"King of Spain's soft pop tracks are nice and hummable...and feature subtle, warm electronics fading in and out of the picture. Nice, relaxing, smart stuff."

- Baby Sue