Kelly Kirwan
Justin Geller has had a few renaissances over the span of his career. His band, Pink Skull, metamorphosed from low-key electronica to psych-inspired krautrock, and then ultimately leveled out along a branch of “druggy analog” to produce that mind-altering experience with a modern-day stitch. A steeping stone in his solo career came in the form of a friend’s request to add a song to the fractured-family drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, released in 2013. Now, three years later, DJ, producer, and genre cut-and-paster Geller has released a new EP, Nights and Weekends, under his independent moniker, Remote Places. It has a heavy backwards glance to the '80s, particularly on the single “Over my Head”— with its deep, far-off vocals acting as the rudder amidst swirling rock riffs and cameos of intergalactic synth.
It’s a song that could’ve been superimposed over scenes of Duckie in the 1986 Hughes classic Pretty in Pink—the shafted suitor that could never break free of the friend zone. “Your heart wasn't ready / But it was ready enough for someone else,” even vocals observe between resonating guitar notes, “All of the times I waited on you ... All of the times you strung me along.” It’s a banger and an open, love-scorned letter that still keeps its cool. Tightly arranged with just the right amount of vintage inspiration, “Over My Head” is enough to bring back the flock of seagulls haircut and pass it off as suave, while giving the cast-aside their well-deserved limelight.