To that end, the music on the 12-track set draws from across Americana, especially Black traditions like jazz and gospel, fusing them with folksy banjo and out-of-tune pianos to suggest simpler times and echo the sentimental rhapsodizing of the group’s members. Evoking a quasi-religious tone and content to ensure their message reaches deep into listeners’ bones, Spillage Village argues that while we distance ourselves from society to save our lives, only a sense of community and a deeper belief in each other can save our souls. So, it’s telling that Spilligion couches its themes in the language and style of one of society’s most reliable pillars to spread a different kind of gospel. Either that or to quote the film, the gods must be crazy.
It seems like it’ll take an act of divine intervention to slow the slide into chaos, but even our demiurges seem to no longer be taking our calls. All of the things we normally put our faith into - our leaders, our institutions, our sense of common decency, even our certainty in a shared reality - have been letting us down for months. It’s no secret that we are collectively living through some dire times. In dire times, some turn to hedonism, some to nihilism, and many, to God - or at least to the instruments that purport to bring us closer to whichever deity we think can get us out of our current predicaments. Yes, that is a play on the word “religion,” an institution that factors heavily into the equation. It’s a question that also seems to have weighed heavily on the recording for Atlanta super crew Spillage Village’s new album Spilligion. How does one stave off the sense of impending doom and get on with the process of just living through this hell on Earth? As the world we inhabit begins to look more and more apocalyptic by the day, it seems all the more urgent to find an answer as well. Where do you turn at the end of the world? It’s a question that seems to become more pressing by the day. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year.