Ralph Castelli “Spinning Rooms” Single Review: A New Psych-Pop Era

Ralph Castelli’s “Spinning Rooms” Is a Beautifully Disorienting Mood

If you’ve been following Ralph Castelli since the “Morning Sex” days, you know he has this weirdly specific talent for making loneliness feel cozy. But with his new single, “Spinning Rooms,” he’s trading the quiet bedroom-pop vibes for something a bit more psychedelic and restless.

Released just a few days ago, it feels like the natural evolution of everything he started on Hope, Alaska. It’s fuzzy, it’s rhythmic, and it captures that exact feeling of being totally overwhelmed by someone.

The Vibe: Losing Your Center

The song opens with this pulsing, dizzying beat that honestly makes the title feel literal. It’s got these “tracers” of sound—little echoes and synth layers—that make you feel like you’re watching city lights blur out a car window.

Castelli’s vocals are as soft and intimate as ever, but there’s a new kind of energy here. It’s not a sad song, but it’s not exactly a happy one either. It’s about that magnetic pull toward someone that leaves you feeling a little lightheaded. When he sings, “I’m right back where I wanted… spinning rooms,” you can tell he’s stopped fighting the chaos and is just leaning into it.

Why It Hits Different

A lot of indie-pop can feel a bit “produced to death” lately, but Ralph has this way of keeping things feeling human. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s out there in Alaska building his own studios and doing things on his own terms, but “Spinning Rooms” feels grounded even when the lyrics are about floating away.

It sits in that perfect middle ground between:

• The late-night drive home (the atmosphere is thick).

• The internal monologue (the lyrics are vulnerable and honest).

• The indie-dance floor (that bassline actually moves).

The Bottom Line

“Spinning Rooms” is a reminder that Ralph Castelli is one of the most interesting songwriters working right now. He isn’t chasing trends; he’s just capturing a feeling. If you need a track to get lost in for three minutes, this is the one.