Listen to the new split and read a track-by-track breakdown by Lumpy and IndiSKA in Decay!

Today we are super excited to bring you the premiere of the new split EP by Lumpy and IndiSKA in Decay (Indica In Decay featuring Dynastic, Lumpy, Holy Schnikes!, and Musicubes)! The split is self-titled and features album art by Jesse McManus. We caught up with Bryan Highhill of Lumpy and Ilan Moskowitz of IndiSKA in Decay to hear their thoughts about each of the tracks on the EP. Indica/Lumpy Split will be out everywhere on March 29 via Lavasocks Records and you can pre-order it right here. Listen to the EP and read the track-by-track breakdown below!

Indica/Lumpy Split Track-by-Track Breakdown 1. Lumpy – “Dreamt Me Up”

“Dreamt Me Up” rose from the ashes of a demo I started almost 10 years ago. That demo turned into a song called “The Streets” which I wrote for my now defunct band Hennepin County Millionaires Club. While using melodies and ideas from “The Streets”, “Dreamt Me Up: takes on its own form and is a completely different song. I’ve always been a fan of reimagining melodies and old musical ideas to give them new life. Honestly, this is probably one of my favorite Lumpy recordings to date. Lyrically, it’s kind of introspective with hints of tongue-in-cheek bitterness, but at the same time meant to inspire processing of difficult times, finding a path to inner-peace, and remaining optimistic for better days yet to come.

2. Lumpy – “Sometimes”

There’s a demo from my Original Lumpy Demos called “It’s Times Like These”. It was one of the earliest Lumpy songs I ever wrote, and I recorded it in 2008. A couple years ago, I re-recorded it but never did anything with it. When this Split EP project came around last year, I thought it would be the perfect home for the new version. However, I quickly grew tired of that idea. I kept some of the ideas, but wrote an entirely new song that was inspired by the original. Again, re-purposing old ideas into (what I think) is better and more meaningful music. I really enjoyed blending elements of ska and pop with some more free form and atmospheric exploration. “Sometimes” clocks in at a whopping 2:22, making it the shortest Lumpy song.

3. Lumpy – “Twisted Fate of Sayin Yes”

I wanted to write and record a catchy ska song that seamlessly blended acoustic instruments with electronic elements. A sort of musical representation of my mental state at the time I wrote this song. Now I don’t know if you’d call this seamless, but this song was a hell of a lot of fun to produce. It’s dark, it’s trippy, it’s melodic, it’s glitchy, it gets brassy and dissonant, it’s got shakers, upbeats, crunchy synths, and hopefully motivates you to sing along. What more could ya want?

4. IndiSKA in Decay – “COULDA BEEN SKA” (ft. Flip and the Combined Effort, Holy Schnikes!, The Hellas, Sad Snack, Musicubes)

I wrote pretty much all the lyrics to this song in a car full of ACT ONE plot notes for the Indica storyline, sipping Jim Beam and looking down at an off-season amusement park. I’d heard David Lee Roth wrote lyrics like this. I doubt that he had the same process of letting questions about the lyrical story arise naturally and resolving them in plot development. But he could do those kickass mid air splits. So I shouldn’t talk too much shit.

5. IndiSKA in Decay – “SKAPWATER” (ft. Dynastic, Lumpy, Holy Schnikes!, Musicubes)

Before the idea of making Indica in Decay an ongoing story, I was experimenting with synths and trying to write about all the gritty band life feelings I was decompressing from in the gig-lessness of the pandemic. The Indica story grew around scenes of sleeping in practice spaces, or in this case, shitty band houses. This track in particular started as a diss track towards my slumlord at the time in 2021. He was a folk and anarcho punk vinyl collector who had us unknowingly paying his entire rent while I went into debt because my right arm needed to be reconstructed after it was shattered at a concert. During the pandemic and the federal occupation of Portland Oregon (where we lived at the time) this slumlord worried we might smash his property since we’d discovered he’d been ripping us off for years. So he set up various hidden cameras all through our house at a time when it was publicly known the feds were tapping wires, just to keep watch on his Crass records.

6. IndiSKA in Decay – “I WILL DARE”

Like Indica, I’m a drummer originally. I learned to sing and drum because guitarists would often say it’s too hard to do their little riffy things and sing, passing that duty off to the band member using all four limbs at once and keeping the beat. I picked up power chords in early bands to give structure to where the lyrics would fit with all the guitar solos. It wasn’t until I heard Paul Westerberg of The Replacements or Marc Bolan of T Rex that I took guitar playing very seriously and taught myself some of those riffy things. And look at me now, I play the synthesizers, which requires more computerized parts to make than the guitar or drums, so therefore is more futuristic and superior. Obviously.