On “Soul Garage A Go Go,” Trabants’ Eric Penna envisions an alternate musical timeline where fuzz-drenched guitars, Motown grooves and displaced psychedelic energy evolved simultaneously. It begs the hypothetical question: What if the Four Tops had somehow landed on the classic Nuggets compilation? Built around a relentless groove, buzzy guitar leads and vibrant horn arrangements, the latest track from Trabants’ upcoming LP, Mirage (International Fuzz Society), feels like a lost 45 beamed in from a parallel universe.
“The intersection of garage/psychedelic rock and soul music has always fascinated me,” says Penna, multi-instrumentalist and chief songwriter for the Portland, Ore.-based instrumental surf/garage/psych outfit. “There’s not an abundance to be found at this intersection of musical genres—much less if you include instrumental music in the criteria. That’s precisely why I wanted to explore it with this song.”
Penna has always been fascinated by the rare moments that bridge those worlds: classics like Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead” and the Isley Brothers’ “Who’s That Lady.” Trabants’ seventh album is the product of a particularly intense period of immersion.
“I was attending a lot of soul-record nights, including the Soul Shakedown Party in L.A. and Soulelujah in Cambridge, Mass.,” he says. “I love how that music can really force you to move with its heavy grooves. I wanted to capture that element as best I could. I wanted to make a song where you’d bob your head to as soon as it started.”
We’re proud to premiere Trabants’ “Soul Garage A Go Go.” Mirage is out June 12.
—Hobart Rowland
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