The second single off of Mothman and The Thunderbirds’s newest album Portal Hopper, ‘So Long’ is an infectiously quirky single that’s trippy, bizarre, and very addictive.
Mothman and The Thunderbirds are a four-piece band hailing from Philadelphia. Composed of Alex and Sam Parkinson, Egor Lappo, and Joe Sobieski, the band’s Portal Hopper is their newest full-length album, a concept album about escapism, and the eventual need to escape from escapism.
The sound on ‘So Long’, the album’s penultimate track, is manic, hypnotizing, and pounding. From the breakneck tempo to the fluttering synth arpeggios and hasty solo, to the robotic vocal processing, nearly everything on ‘So Long’ is as alien and as trippy as that robot on the album art. That is not to say that ‘So Long’ is a distant or an off-putting single in any way, as the reality is the opposite of this. The song is cheerful to an addictive extent with its bright arpeggios and driving beats, and major key sound. Alex Parkinson’s lead vocals on the song are also stellar. Melodic, far-reaching, and with a juvenile gravity that completes the puzzle of the sound, Parkinson’s calculated delivery are the cherry on the top.
‘So Long (Portal Hopper)’ got me sold entirely on Mothman and The Thunderbird’s latest, concept album. With its infectious earworm quality, terrific production creativity and value, and the delightfully stand-out sound of the voice and the instrumental, which sits perfectly between organic and electronic, Mothman and The Thunderbird are bringing forth a new sound that is brimming with excitement.
