Image by Louis Roach //

Spike Vincent 2.0 has arrived.

Off the back of his debut self-titled EP, Spike Vincent established himself as a lovestruck slacker, routinely referred to as a “dole-wave” rocker. His deep voice and twangy guitars struck a chord both at home and abroad, seeing him attract plenty of underground buzz (if there is such a thing) at home and a spot at SXSW on the stage of US indie label Burger Records. Returning with his first new music since 2018 today, it seems that the Spike Vincent sound has evolved into something quite different. And we’re fully into it.

‘Time Machine’ sees Spike swap out the guitars for synths and the drums for drum machines, firmly planting his feet in the new wave category. His knack for matching swooning melodies with poignant lyrics remains as present as ever, with the chorus melody proving to be instantaneously memorable – just don’t expect Spike 2.0 to be mentioning VB on the next EP…

“I began writing it when I moved to Melbourne last year. It’s a bit inspired by The Kelpies, Roky Erickson and Tears For Fears; it’s a lamenting pop song with sci-fi undertones,” Spike says of the track. “Grief-stricken and heartbroken, the protagonist of my tale wishes to travel back to a golden age, before war, environmental disaster and disease had destroyed his planet… It’s a song about love and loss, pushing forward no matter how bad the nightmare gets.”

The video clip, which was directed by Tim Nathan, furthers the new wave vibe, with a collage of spacey stock footage incorporated as we see Spike singing. Interestingly, the vocal take you see on the video is the actual vocal take used in the song, with Spike opting to keep that feeling from his (live-recorded) debut EP going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk0P8R6sjc0

The tune is available everywhere you listen to music right now!