The seventh of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting.
The inclusion of Brutal by Spare Snare shouldn’t come as a surprise, given how much I waxed lyrically about it a few months back as part of a lengthy double-feature over two successive days with Jan Burnett, the band’s lead singer. I know that the lengthier articles on the blog are glossed over by a few folk, so I’m happy enough to do a bit of cutting and pasting from that time.
Most Spare Snare records are released in a low-key manner, partly as the time constraints on everyone really restricts how much can be delivered in the way of promotional activities. This time around, the release of the album is going to be accompanied by a week-long tour of venues in England, with Scottish dates later on at weekends. There’s a real desire and willingness to get the album out to as wide a crowd as possible, with a collective belief that it is as strong a collection of tunes as any they have ever delivered.
It’s a compact effort, with its ten tracks coming in at around 35 minutes all told. I played it with a pre-conceived idea of what a Steve Albini-engineered album was likely to sound like based on listening and enjoying his work with The Wedding Present, Pixies, The Breeders, PJ Harvey and so on, but found myself really appreciating how different and diverse things sounded on this occasion. I really shouldn’t have been caught out in that way given that Albini is far removed from being a one-trick pony, having worked with, among others, The Auteurs, Low, Cinerama and Jarvis Cocker, none of whom relied extensively or exclusively on guitars to make great albums.
But please, don’t be under the impression that the brilliance of this record is down solely to the magician behind the desk.
Far from it.
Spare Snare have very much upped their game on this occasion. As I outlined earlier, they took a different approach in the advance planning for this album, working and preparing harder than ever before. By the time they went into the studio, they knew they had a set of very strong songs, their first new material since the release of Unicorn in 2018; by the time they came out of the studio a week later, they had very much risen to the occasion and, to this particular set of ears, delivered the performance of a lifetime.
In summary, they nailed it.
mp3: Spare Snare – The Brutal
Spare Snare have always looked to closely control and manage the distribution of their music, and while there may well be copies kicking around in some of the independent record stores across the country, it’s probably best you pick it up via the Bandcamp page. Just click here.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Interesting. Great drum sound. I’d be curious to know who’s playing what on that song. On their Wiki page all of the 6 present members are listed as multi-instrumentalists (5 play guitar, 4 play bass, 4 play synths, etc.). That usually means a versatile and exciting live act.
Hi Jonny
They are, as you rightly imagined, a really decent live act. For this album, they didn’t switch things round much. Jan (vocals), Adam (keyboards), Alan (guitar), Barry (drums), Graeme (guitar/keyboards) and Michael (bass).
Jan, Alan and Barry have been part of things for 30 years, with Graeme and Adam arriving in the mid-00s. Michael is a relative newcomer.
Just a wee note, Michael plays bass and I play guitar and keyboard on it. Glad you liked it. Graeme
Thanks Graeme. Earlier reply duly altered!!!!!!!