The West

Spindrift frontman Kirpatrick Thomas's fascination with the West has existed from childhood, stemming from his passion for films depicting the wild American frontier, especially those scored by Italian composer Ennio Morricone. This early interest has played a major part in his songwriting, and his druggy, spacious, psychedelic music found a supportive community in Los Angeles, where he arrived in the early part of the new millennium after a stint with the Brian Jonestown Massacre as a touring guitarist. Wholeheartedly embraced by the local music scene, members of BJM and the Warlocks joined Thomas in fits and starts at first before eventually leaving their former positions to play with Spindrift fulltime. The completed line-up prompted the rare phenomenon of creating a new genre unto itself, Spaghetti Western psychedelia.

The West reaches out even further musically, exploring klezmer, blues, and sea shanties, while remaining loyally informed by the psychedelic rock that's been their foundation for so long. The culmination of three years' hard work, The West is an expansive, sweeping album, the work of many musicians coming together with a common goal, a defined purpose, in the process creating what ends up being a tone poem of contemporary society itself.