2022 hasn’t been the best all-around year for indie pop, but there’s no disputing that the new single from Sp8ce Owl, “Voices In My Head” is a diamond in the rough. Made up of a gorgeous duet between the instruments and a wordless vocal harmony, as well as a flood of dreamlike melodies as sexy as they are simple, “Voices In My Head” is a refreshingly refined song if I’ve ever heard one before. There’s no stopping the momentum of a good hook once you’ve heard it for the first time, and in this area, I can vouch for this single’s wholesome authenticity.
There’s a great tonality to all of the instrumentation here, but from where I sit, the wind instruments are always the centerpiece in “Voices In My Head.” There’s simply too much magnetism between these components for us to devote any less than our full attention to their harmony, but this doesn’t take anything away from the beats, or the other instrumental elements in the song at all. It’s but a statement of facts, and a reaffirming of Sp8ce Owl’s capabilities as a multi-instrumentalist in this next decade of his professional life.
Sp8ce Owl’s songwriting has matured a lot since he last made headlines. Where his last couple of tracks have sported shades of the introspection that he’s showing off so vibrantly here, it altogether lacked the conservative compositional technique that makes “Voices In My Head” a hit – in my opinion, that is. His self-awareness yields a surprisingly smart commentary on love in this track, and when you consider how rare that kind of a concept has been in contemporary indie pop, you’ve got to give Sp8ce Owl, and those who have been building up his career for the better part of the last few years for that matter, their due props.
I’ve admittedly been left unimpressed by much of the recent material making it onto the top tier of the Billboard charts in the last couple of months, but as always, the underground comes through this October with a solid gold standard in “Voices In My Head.” Sp8ce Owl is on top of his game like few others in his class are, and his ongoing growth tells me that his sonic campaign is nowhere near an end. I’ve had my eye on him for a while, and from here on out, I’d recommend you keep his work on your radar as well.
