Two weeks before her band released their debut EP, Avery Springer found herself on family vacation at Universal Studios dealing with a crisis. The band she formed a few months prior had just been served a cease-and-desist notice from another band that was also using the same name. Springer and her bandmates had a frantic group chat, trying to come up with a new name that they could move forward with, not wanting or able to deal with the time and money it would take to fight it, especially with their first-ever release on the horizon.
That first EP, Strictly Speaking — which was released in 2017 ,came together quickly and a little frantically, as well. It was Springer’s first time working with her bandmates, lead guitarist Nick Cartwright and drummer James Ringess, both of whom she recruited to play with her right after moving to Chicago and both of whom she didn’t know all that well. “I had a bunch of songs already written and our first practice went really well, so afterwards I informed them that I had booked studio time for a month later so we had to get everything right,” Springer says. “Things kept snowballing from there and never really stopped.”
Retirement Party derived their name from that sort of quarter-life crisis. And their latest single, “Passion Fruit Tea,” delights in its unease. The lyrics are self-aware, mocking their self-pity. “Everybody owes me,” Avery Springer sings as if rolling her eyes. “Tell that guy that I’m sorry that I lied to you and made everyone upset again.” Above all, the song is about following what drives you. Springer admits that she doesn’t have a job, but she has something better — a passion. That passion, as you might guess, is the passion tea she keeps sipping “to just get the taste of it.” Brimming with hooky riffs and rose-tinted angst, it exudes a sunny nervousness, just in time for spring.
The Fat Angel Sings 