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For the communication device, see Thomas Edison § Spirit Phone.
Spirit Phone
Studio album by
Lemon Demon
ReleasedFebruary 29, 2016
Recorded2009–2016
Genre
Length59:24
Label
Lemon Demon chronology
Nature Tapes
(2014) 		Spirit Phone
(2016)
Neil Cicierega chronology
Mouth Silence
(2014) 		Spirit Phone
(2016) 		Mouth Moods
(2017)

Spirit Phone is the seventh studio album by Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. Released in 2016, the album was Lemon Demon's first full-length album in eight years.[2] The album was released digitally through Bandcamp on February 29, 2016, and other streaming services the following day.[3] On July 10, 2018, independent label Needlejuice Records announced vinyl, CD and cassette releases, which shipped on October 21, 2018.[4][5]

All tracks were written, performed and recorded by Neil Cicierega. The album's cover art was created by Cicierega's wife, comic book artist Ming Doyle.[6] The song "Sweet Bod" features a guitar solo by Dave Kitsberg of Time Lord rock group Time Crash.[7] The album received generally positive reception and was largely successful, with the track "Touch-Tone Telephone" being the second most played track on Spotify, with over 64 million streams, and surpassing "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny".[8]

History

Shortly after the release of Lemon Demon's 2008 album View-Monster, Cicierega began work on the next Lemon Demon album which would be released eight years later as Spirit Phone.[9]

In July 2009, "Eighth Wonder", a song about the cryptid Gef, was made available as an mp3 download on lemondemon.com,[10] followed by a music video for the song posted to his Youtube channel in November of that year.[11] This release was nearly identical to the version heard on Spirit Phone. A demo produced during this time titled "Ivanushka" would later be adapted into Spirit Phone track "Touch-Tone Telephone". The original version was eventually released to Neil Cicierega's Patreon in January 2018.[12]

Between 2010 and 2016, Cicierega would tease more early versions of tracks that would eventually appear on Spirit Phone, released online as demos or performed live. In April 2012, an early version of "Reaganomics" was uploaded to Neil's second channel, along with a video accompaniment intended for live shows, edited from clips of Ronald Reagan in his final film role The Killers.[13] "Reaganomics" would be performed live at the anime convention Youmacon 2012, along with early versions of "As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It", "Ancient Aliens", and "Cabinet Man".[14]

In July 2012, Cicierega posted two unused opening themes for the animated television series Gravity Falls to his Tumblr blog, elements of which would become Spirit Phone bonus tracks "Gravitron",[15] and "Moon's Request" respectively (the latter being a remix of the original opening theme Cicierega made for Gravity Falls that removes any mentions of the show).[16][17] In October 2014, "When He Died" was released on Patreon.[18]

The album was released digitally on February 29, 2016, followed by a remastered physical release on vinyl, CD, and cassette in October 2018 by Needlejuice Records,[9] followed by 8-track and minidisc releases in 2019 and 2020.

Reception

Mashable included "Touch-Tone Telephone" and "Eighth Wonder" on their official 2019 Halloween playlist, calling "Touch-Tone Telephone" one of many "real gems".[19] Cultured Vultures called the horror-themed Spirit Phone "one of the wildest pop albums of the year".[1] The album was the best-selling album on Bandcamp for the first week of its release.[20]

"Cabinet Man", a song about a man who turns himself into a half-human arcade machine, would later inspire the indie game Neon Nemesis, featured at the 2019 Alt.Ctrl.GDC Exhibition.[21] The game is played by up to four racers, against a fifth player, the "nemesis" who controls their character out of sight of the others, from inside the game cabinet itself.

Track listing

All tracks are written, performed and recorded by Neil Cicierega, except where noted.[22]

No.TitleLength
1."Lifetime Achievement Award"6:07
2."Touch-Tone Telephone"4:43
3."Cabinet Man"4:23
4."No Eyed Girl"4:20
5."When He Died"4:34
6."Sweet Bod"4:11
7."Eighth Wonder"4:42
8."Ancient Aliens"4:16
9."Soft Fuzzy Man"2:54
10."As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It"2:53
11."I Earn My Life"3:11
12."Reaganomics"3:32
13."Man-Made Object"3:38
14."Spiral of Ants"6:01
Total length:59:24

Bonus tracks

The album also contains 13 bonus tracks; consisting of demos, cut songs, and additional music. The following is the track listing of the deluxe bonus CD.[23] On digital services these tracks are arranged in alphabetical order and all subtitled "(Bonus Track)"; and "Sweet Bod (Demo)" is simply named "Sweet Bod".

No.TitleLength
1."Crisis Actors"4:48
2."Redesign Your Logo"4:21
3."Pizza Heroes"1:31
4."You're at the Party"5:21
5."Angry People"4:54
6."Geocities"3:25
7."Angelfire"3:41
8."Gravitron"0:53
9."Moon's Request"2:21
10."Sweet Bod (Demo)"4:14
11."Cat Hacks"3:07
12."Cabinet Man (Demo)"2:41
13."Kubrick and the Beast"2:44
Total length:1:43:25

The vinyl and cassette releases contain the bonus tracks "Crisis Actors", "Redesign Your Logo", "Pizza Heroes", "You're at the Party" and "Angry People".[24] The bonus track "Kubrick and the Beast" was added to the vinyl and cassette releases starting with 2022 pressings. All physical releases also include a download card for the full album, along with album commentary by Cicierega, except for the CD release which already has the full album and commentary.[25]

Personnel

Musicians
  • Neil Cicierega – vocals, instruments, programming, engineering, production
  • Dave Kitsberg – electric guitar (track 6)
Artwork
Production
  • Mark Kramer – remastering (Needlejuice pressings 2018-2021)
  • Angel Marcloid – remastering (Needlejuice pressings beginning in 2022)[27]

References

  1. ^ a b Leith, Ryan (February 13, 2017). "Album Review: Neil Cicierega – Mouth Moods". Cultured Vultures.
  2. ^ Cicierega, Neil. (February 26, 2016) "I haven't made a full-length for-sale album since 2008, so this is new to me" Twitter.com
  3. ^ Cicierega, Neil. (February 29, 2016) "I think I'll release the bandcamp version a little early, after the stream! Everything else should go live by tomorrow morning" Twitter.com
  4. ^ "Neil Cicierega Tumblr". Neil Cicierega Tumblr. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Needlejuice Records (October 21, 2018) "Spirit Phone LPs are shipping! Thank you for your patience, as there are a lot of orders to go through. There was a production delay with the Spirit Phone 2-CD set, and so orders containing the CD will ship during the beginning of November." Twitter.com
  6. ^ "Ming Doyle Tumblr - Neil Cicierega: Spirit Phone". mingdoyle.tumblr.com. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  7. ^ "Spirit Phone, by Lemon Demon". Lemon Demon. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  8. ^ "Lemon Demon Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Lemon Demon's Spirit Phone Coming to LP, CD, and Cassette". Needlejuice Records. July 10, 2018. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  10. ^ Swartz, Tim R. (January 4, 2019). "The Eighth Wonder of the World". In Beckley, Timothy Green; Roberts, Paul Dale; Inviticus, Hercules (eds.). Gef The Talking Mongoose: The "Eighth Wonder of the World". Inner Light Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-606-11987-7. In fact, there is even a song written about him by Lemon Demon called "Eighth Wonder."
  11. ^ Cicierega, Neil (November 18, 2009), Lemon Demon - "Eighth Wonder", retrieved February 27, 2016
  12. ^ Cicierega, Neil (January 9, 2018). "Ivanushka | Neil Cicierega on Patreon". Patreon. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  13. ^ 2Neil2Cicierega (April 27, 2012), Lemon Demon - Reaganomics, retrieved February 27, 2016{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Youmacon (November 4, 2012), Youmacon 2012 - Lemon Demon Concert, retrieved February 27, 2016
  15. ^ "Neil Cicierega Tumblr". Neil Cicierega Tumblr. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  16. ^ Neil Cicierega - Gravity Falls, retrieved December 15, 2021
  17. ^ "Neil Cicierega Tumblr". Neil Cicierega Tumblr. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  18. ^ "When He Died". Patreon. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  19. ^ Houghtaling, Ellie (October 11, 2019). "Here's a Halloween playlist for all your spooky music needs". Mashable.
  20. ^ "Bandcamp". March 6, 2016. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
  21. ^ Couture, Joel (January 23, 2019). "Alt.Ctrl.GDC Showcase: Neon Nemesis". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 9, 2020. We took inspiration from a song called "Cabinet Man" by Lemon Demon.
  22. ^ "Spirit Phone, by Lemon Demon". Lemon Demon. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  23. ^ "Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone (CD)". Discogs. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  24. ^ "Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone". Discogs. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  25. ^ "Lemon Demon – Spirit Phone". Needlejuice Records. January 6, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  26. ^ "https://twitter.com/needlejuicerec/status/1477343873148014598". Twitter. Retrieved February 15, 2023. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  27. ^ "https://twitter.com/needlejuicerec/status/1603073669516894208". Twitter. Retrieved February 15, 2023. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
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