Quicksand's Bring On the Psychics: What I Needed at 40 Was a Band Closer to 60

I turned 40 last November. It was a milestone I was weirdly looking forward to, but pretty much immediately after it happened I started to feel an imminent sense of dread, something like how the hourglass might be dwindling a little more than I had expected. Almost immediately some weird, not-terrible health things started happening. More annoying than anything. I started to feel like a cliche. No one does anything great after 40. That's clearly a young man's opinion, and now, with some clarity, I can see that.

A month ago, I'd never heard of Quicksand. Seriously, not a note. I could tell you who Walter Schreifels was, but I had no real mental connection to him outside of Gorilla Biscuits and maybe Rival Schools if I thought about it hard. Then my friend played me "Thorn in My Side" off of 1995's Manic Compression, and a portal opened up in my brain. I've spent the last month digesting everything this band has put out: their 1990 self-titled EP, their original two records including 1993's classic Slip, and then learning the band took a long layoff, 24 years between albums, before releasing 2017's Interiors and 2021's Distant Populations. It's all so damn good. So imagine, in the midst of this, I was completely unaware, and then totally thrilled, that another album was on the way, which brings us up to the release of Bring On The Psychics.

As I've gotten older, and especially as I've started to navigate being a husband and a parent to boys whose development seems to advance at light speed, I've had to work extra hard at maintaining a sense of self and individualism. It was always really important to me to find a way to keep up with the things I cared about. I'm always trying to find new music to listen to, watch a new show or a new movie that interests me, or I'll even stay up on a week night to watch some old movie I'd thought about watching for years. I want to keep learning. I want to soak it all in while I'm still able. I'm sure this sounds like a lot of navel gazing, but I assure you there's a point to this. I'm listening to this group at such an intense clip because I think they're proving to me that, deep into their 50s, they're making music that's just as relevant, powerful, and provocative as what they made when they were younger. I need that right now.

I don't know how qualified I am to say this, having only known this band for a month, but I can tell you this much: Bring on the Psychics holds up next to everything else in the catalog I've been tearing through. No two Quicksand records have ever really sounded alike, and this one lands with the intensity and relentlessness of a band that sounds like it's still trying to prove its place. They absolutely do not have anything left to prove, but that hunger is palpable throughout the album, and honestly, it's inspiring, especially from where I'm sitting.

Quicksand's dynamic shifts and nuance are such strong hallmarks of their sound, and here they're at the forefront. "Get To It" opens with a slow boil before Alan Cage's drums and Sergio Vega's bass swell to gigantic size under a stinging Schreifels guitar line, and "Regenerate" pulls off the same trick even bigger. I keep finding myself repeating Schreifels' "Balance / Pride / Humility" in my head like it's some kind of mantra, which honestly feels like the whole record in three words. Then there's "Supercollider," which first appeared on the band's 2024 split with Hot Water Music. Meaty chords dance with jangly verses, Cage and Vega sounding so locked in that it's an absolutely thrilling storm. It's one of the best songs on the album, and it fits perfectly here despite technically being a leftover, which feels about right. I've spent the last month learning this band backward, out of order, decades compressed into weeks, and somehow it all still adds up.

Through all of this sound, the real magic of the group is never more evident than on "In Full Color." The guitars, bass, and drums tumble into focus almost immediately, giving the impression that you're in for a loud/quiet/loud jam. But then Schreifels marries it all together with a clarity and self-awareness: "Life can really pile up / Before you know, you've got all this stuff / Weighing down on your head / Wish you were somewhere else instead." I know that feeling, because I'm feeling it right now. "It's all there in full color / It's not one or the other." I understand this feeling is universal, but I'm certainly glad I heard it now.

The cover of the album appears to be a white Iceland poppy. Poppies are commonly associated with remembrance, but also with purity, peace, serenity, and sleep or dreaming. I can't say for certain what the intended meaning is here, but I like to think it's some combination of all of these. Bring On The Psychics feels like an album made by musicians closer to 60 than they are 50, still making provocative, powerful music that pushes boundaries and feels vital, but also aware that there's less time left than there used to be. That comes through clearly on "Moving Forward": "No defences, swinging for the fences / Moving forward / Always forward." It's a beautiful line, and one I can genuinely take to heart.

Even the changes that came with this new decade of my life turned out to be thankfully minor, more annoying than anything, but they're still a reminder that more are always coming. It'll be a constant effort to outrun the dread and root myself back in reality, and that's okay. No one does anything great after 40? Not true. It's happening all the time. Quicksand is a band making music that feels just as vital as they did at the dawn of the '90s. Moving forward. Always forward. Way to blow past that tired cliche and remind us we're all capable of doing something awesome at any age.

Bring On The Psychics is out now on Equal Vision Records.