The Devil Makes Three are summoning spirits.
Today, Oct. 31, the Santa Cruz threesome have exclusively premiered the title track off their full-length studio album with Relix, the aptly-titled Spirits, due out on February 28, 2025, via New West Records. The impending collections lean into tropes of personal reflection fueled by sorrow and mortality felt in the wake of substantial loss experienced by principal songwriter and frontman Pete Bernhard while working on the set–the same themes that haunt today’s single release.
“‘Spirits’ is a song of grief and loss. In the span of four years, in succession, I lost my mother, brother, and childhood friend to illness, car accident, and heart attack. There were so many simultaneous memories of lost family and friends all at once. This song celebrates them and is an attempt to keep talking to the people we have lost. The spirits are with us,” Bernhard told Relix.
“Spirits” find The Devil Makes Three members, Bernhard, Cooper McBean, and longtime collaborator turned featured member MorganEve Swain, imparting “Too many spirits/ In this house now/ Too many spirits/ In my head/ Too many spirits/ In that bottle/ All I do is speak with the dead.” Lines allude to Bernhard’s reckoning with the nature of reality, fixing to go beyond the earthly realm while haunted by memories in a dream state of reality versus imagination, steeped in an unrelenting yearning that trails the loss of a loved one.
“There were three who held me up/ Three going down/ Tell me who should I call/ To reach under the ground,” Benhard sings, as a reference to his own experiences while shaping the presentation of the impending collection, which coaxed as a through-line of immense emotional hardship, working through the pain with music as a guiding light.
Instrumentally, “Spirits” serves as a progression of the band’s sound, as Benhard reflects, “When we first started the band in Santa Cruz, there was a folk scene, but also a progressive jam following, and that’s what we wanted to do… play traditional folk music with an aggressively punk approach.” The single takes on a surfy undertone, again displaying the group’s ability to play with tone and texture.
“The world’s in a strange place right now. A lot of the songs on this record come from that place—trying to make sense of it all, whether it’s dealing with loss, addiction, or the way people are more divided than ever. But at the end of the day, this band has always been about celebrating resilience. We’ve always found a way to push through, and wanted to reflect that in this album,” emphasizes Bernhard.
Spirits will be available in full on February 28, 2025, on digital platforms, CD, and standard black vinyl formats. Limited edition brick red vinyl will be offered via Heady Wax Fiends, in addition to a purple color vinyl edition autographed by The Devil Makes Three from Independent Retailers. Pre-order now.
Spirits Track Listing:
1. Lights on Me
2. Spirits
3. Ghosts are Weak
4. Half as High
5. Hard Times
6. The Devil Wins
7. The Dark Gets the Best of You
8. Fallen Champions
9. The Gift
10. Divide and Conquer
11. I Love Doing Drugs
12. Poison Well
13. Holding On