Part Time Spell #6

Nearing a decade old and with a discography reaching deep into double figures across several
different labels (Mexican Summer, Insert others), David Loca's work under the Part Time moniker really shouldn't require any introduction. Nonetheless, the release of what
is officially his sixth album, fittingly titled Spell #6, does signal something of a re-birth and
provides a compelling entry point for anyone new to Loca's prolific output. Whereas
previous albums were notable for a charming lo-fi production, Spell #6 takes Part Time
uptown. "I describe this album as 'my studio album', because it was entirely re-recorded
at my drummer Walter Byer's studio, unlike most of my past releases being bedroom
experimental pop recordings." Loca produced the record himself, impressively
appropriating a classic 80s pop sound that recalls some of the more grand productions of
that era - think Stephen Street's expressive production on `Last Night I Dreamt
Somebody Loved Me', Crowded House and The Church's widescreen interpolation of
Paisley Underground jangle, and there's even traces Gerard McMann's grandiose `Cry
Little Sister'. In that sense, the record stands as an outlier in Loca's catalogue, and in
doing so sheds the sometimes limiting trappings of bedroom recording Though it is
Loca's project, Spell #6 sees him joined by a consistent supporting cast of fellow writers
and performers who add a poise and deftness to his vision, most notably Ariel Pink, who
makes a guest appearance on lead single, `I Can Treat You Better'. Reflecting on the
song, Loca states, "I decided to take it lyrically to a place as if i were a man noticing an
unhappy lady in her relationship and I'm telling her that he isn't good for her." A lead
single for its obvious earworm qualities, it also functions as an ideal snapshot of the
lyrical themes that run through the entire record: romantic gestures and unrequited love,
bad decisions on hot nights/hot decisions on bad nights, and unpinning it all, LA. For this
is evidently a West Coast record, like a 2018 take on To Live and Die in LA: expansive,
grand, and not a little crazy (in love) from the heat.