EP Review: Party by Seal Pup

By: Stephen Wilkins

Originally published April 30, 2020, by Plasma Magazine 

We’ve all been listening to our own Corona playlist since this shutdown took hold, but Jake Cook aka Seal Pup took a different approach and decided to write his own. The result is a six song EP titled Party, with all the despondent tongue and cheek wit we’ve come to expect from Cook. It’s the girl crying over an existential crisis in the corner at the high school party, just less muffled sobs and more articulate word play. The songs range from timely think pieces to songs about personal loss, like a journal laid bare for the rest of us to sift through. 

“Don’t Worry They Have A Plan” feels ripped from the headlines of a Fauci/Trump battle royal at one of Donald’s daily press briefings. The plan: declare victory at any cost. “Wearing gilded crowns of victory/Then relax with their paid sick leave”, Cook sings to a marching drum beat. It moves us forward, it leads us into the unknown and uncertain future. If the first track is leading us to uncertainty in a tyrannical fashion at the hands of bureaucracy “My GPS Was Trippin ''is here to stand up to big brother’s determinism. “I don’t want to die/ I don’t want to be exploited/ I don’t want my life to be contrived or pointless.” A sentiment we all have plenty of time to contemplate as we twiddle our thumbs, scroll social media, and watch springtime unfold in front of our eyes. 

“Little Jake” is based around an inescapable piano riff that is circling down a drain leading us to the past. Certainly the most personal song on Party, it explores how our coping mechanisms can work for and against us.  “Built a structure here to shield me from the snow/But how was I to know the very walls providing safety and support/Would cause my emotions to short?” If none of this sounds like a laid back springtime, forget you’re in quarantine release, you’re exactly right. Cook noted,“I would say Party is the rawest Seal Pup release yet. Anyone who is not looking to have a chill introspective experience should perhaps not listen to it.”

Pictures were taken and edited by Omar Wali

Every Seal Pup release to date has sketches of characters that we’ve all seen or met. “Boomer” is certainly that. It's a look at the world we live in through a person that helped create it, a synecdoche of sorts. “Another day above ground for as long as time concedes/Spryness is fading/But I don't like the way your face falls when you look down on me”, Cook sings. As the changing of the guard continues from the world boomers created to a new age coming into fruition with younger generations, there is bitterness on both ends. “Boomer” expresses this sentiment. It’s your parents or grandparents feeling bitter about a failing body, but also how they want to hold onto what they’ve created, while a new generation wants to change all the things they worked their entire lives to build. “So I'm gonna be there/To unfold the flag and wave it/I'm nothing if I'm not patient/Not one more second to spare.” 

“One of these songs is the saddest song I’ve ever written”, Cook told Plasma via email. He didn’t elaborate on which song that was but, “Dying in the Window” is certainly up there with the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. The slow sway of the guitar’s minor chord and heavy reverb set the mood for the subject’s demise. “Seemed like a good man/Probably in his early 40's/Worked like a dog to raise 6 kids/Motherfucker died rolling silverware.” That last stanza is the saddest thing I’ve contemplated since the Corona pandemic has swept the news cycle. There should probably be a trigger warning on this release. Cook rounds out "Party  with a cover of Against Me!’s “T.S.R.” All in all, Party is like last year’s I Bleed Pop, well crafted catharsis pop. You can stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.