There are four skeletons on this album, and I did not fully plan that, but I love it. Once I noticed, I started treating the bones like a running character across the whole record, which is exactly the kind of thread you can build in an album and never in a one-off single.
Skeleton Twist is the dance craze, all clacking joints and a call-and-response dance break. Skeleton Fred is the pop-punk friendship anthem where two undead pals discover they share a name. Skeleton Tango is the elegant one who leaves an arm on the ballroom floor. And skeletons keep crashing into other songs too. A skeleton comes rattling down the track in Monster Scare Off and scares four monsters half to death. Even the album closer has two little boys dressed as skeletons, which is a sweet accidental callback to the whole crew.
The thread that ties them together is a specific sound, a bone rattle made of wood blocks, castanets, and clacking percussion. I made sure that rattle shows up as a signature across the skeleton songs, so that even when the styles are completely different, from a sock hop to a tango, your ear knows a skeleton just walked in. It is a tiny recurring motif, and it makes the album feel like a world with its own rules.
Skeletons are one of Halloween’s oldest images, and they have starred in some of its most famous old songs. I wanted to give them a fresh set, in four different styles, for a new generation of kids to rattle along to. Move over, old bones. These ones can twist, tango, and mosh.
If you like a good rattle of bones, this album has a whole crew of them. Follow me so you catch every one.
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