The Antonym by Spirit Gun: EP Review

by Gabe Finch April 17, 2023

April 17, 2023

Grieving is a process, and we have found Spirit Gun depicting the process in a most poetic and sonically sound way in their new EP, “The Antonym.” The 4-track EP takes us on a journey to the end of everything with their infectious jam of a punk rock album.

Spirit Gun’s first track, “9:30,” from their EP, “The Antonym,” has a hard bass and a driving bass line to go along with steady drumming hyping the whole song. It’s a thrilling yet simplistic track with only a few lines repeated over, giving a hypnotic or obsessive emphasis on a certain subject or aspect. Its name itself tells half the story of the track, as the vocals reiterate the lines “What time you going on” in a state of frenzy, depicting their friend is late for a show.

Now let’s get on “The Antonym,” upon your first encounter with it, you will realize the Spirit Gun is telling us a story, or rather talking about a night at “9:45”. With groovier chords on the guitar and fuzzy yet emphatic vocals, the song sings about a friend’s demise at that time.

“No Reverse” has the most addictive beat and drumming pattern in the music, but it might also be the most despondent of them all, with the song being only 2 minutes long and Spirit Gun singing of no reverse and not being able to “go back.” “Shorty Red” is the show-stopper, concluding all the loose strings and tying them together with a nostalgic and melancholic bass line. With a grittier sound and a stretched, hypnotic voice, Spirit Gun wraps it up with an unending sorrow.