Last week, New York's Frog announced new album The Count, which is named after a strange, supernatural character that began to appear in the New York metropolitan area in August '25. It's unclear how non-fictional this whole account is; the duo's Daniel Bateman shared a ghastly account in which the Count's music put everyone in a trance as he and his piano levitated off the ground. In their new music, Bateman assumes the role of the titular figure. Today, there's another new song from this perplexing project titled "SPANISH ARMADA VAR. XV."
"SPANISH ARMADA VAR. XV" is an Elliot Smith-adjacent banger. The vocals weave and waver around warm acoustic strums and hearty piano jabs. There's something that also feels a bit Neutral Milk Hotel about the whole thing. Maybe it's the historical references or the vivid lyrics that are emphasized by a spiraling falsetto. "Me and the guys walked over with buckets of fries/ Boarding the Spanish armada, that’s what I thought when I saw ya," goes the chorus.
Listen below.
The Count is out 9/19 via Audio Antihero/Tape Wormies.
