For over a decade, Spanish Love Songs have captured hearts around the world with their introspective lyricism, sharing moments of their lives with honesty that leaves one in awe at first hearing Dylan Slocum’s hoarse vocals. The ability to turn dread into something comfortable and relatable has always been their strength in their music. On their new EP, A Brief Intermission in the Flattening of Time, they dive more into that instinct while bringing along a few friends.
The EP opens with “Lifers Too,” which features Dan Campbell from The Wonder Years, and reshapes the song into a more layered, upbeat version than the original on the No Joy Sessions. That said, the urgency doesn’t leave the song. In fact, with Campbell’s vocals and the added instruments and synths, it builds to a much more powerful climax. It naturally leads us into “Cocaine & Lexapro” featuring Kevin Devine; the pace changes, but the emotional grip keeps one completely hooked. Here we hear a band looking at old fears with clearer eyes. And Devine’s vocals carry a calmness that blends into the song, making it a more ethereal listen.
Because we weren’t spoiled enough by Spanish Love Songs, things get even better on “Heavenhead,” and personally, here’s where the EP blooms for me. The more gritty guitars sit against the vocals, as if the song is trying to shake off whatever has been weighing the band down. But, in all fairness, it doesn’t entirely shake it off. Sarah Tudzin’s vocals aren’t there to lighten the song; that’s evident from the moment she sings. Instead, she leans into the tension that the song already carries.
The tension doesn’t go away, and as we hit the EP closer, “Berlin” featuring Tiger Jaw, it closes on a darker note that fits the weight of everything that came before. The track sits low but steady, focusing on a relationship that keeps getting pulled back into things supposedly behind them. With additional vocals from Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins, the song holds its shape without softening any of its vulnerable edges. It feels like the perfect place for the EP to end, with us longing for more.
Across all four tracks, the band has let weight sit where it needs to—creating something so familiar that the features don’t even distract from it. If anything, the ambitious features showcase a confidence in the songs that, for some reason, only Spanish Love Songs know how to call upon when needed. It makes the EP feel less like a detour and more like a reminder of why their writing hits as hard as it does in the first place.
