Spector - Enjoy It While It Lasts

Wäre "Enjoy It While It Lasts" bereits 2005 erschienen, hätte man Spector vielleicht in eine Reihe mit Bloc Party, Maximo Park und Kaiser Chefs setzen können. Nun sind seitdem einige Jahre vergangen und das Interesse an britischen Indierock-Bands hat, vielleicht auch begründet in der schwindenden Qualität der Veröffentlichungen, deutlich nachgelassen. Zumindest außerhalb des Vereinigten Königreiches. 

Im ihrer Heimat wurde das Debütalbum von Spector sehnlichst erwartet, doch große Überraschungen gibt es, bei zuvor fünf veröffentlichten Singles, kaum. Die Quellen, aus denen sich die Inspiration des Londoner Quintetts speist, heißen 90er Jahre Indierock und 80er New Wave, so dass diejenigen, die den Kaiser Chiefs und Maximo Park immer noch die Treue halten und The Vaccines ("Chevy Thunder") und The Killers ("Friday Night, Don't Ever Let It End" mit seiner einprägsamen Mitgröhl-Coda) auf ihrem aktuellen Einkaufszettel stehen haben, dort auch Spector notieren sollten. Für den nötigen Bombast und den zum Bandnamen passenden Sound sorgt neben Trevor Horn ("Celestine") noch Craig Silvey (Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, The Horrors).   

Die Kritiken für die erste Platte von Fred Macpherson (Gesang), Christopher Burman (Gitarre), Thomas Shickle (Bass), Jed Cullen (Synthies, Gitarre) und Danny Blandy (Schlagzeug) sind in England sehr wohlwollend ausgefallen, so vergibt der NME 8/10 Punkten: 

‘True Love (For Now)’ kicks it all off in disarmingly subtle fashion, with woozy piano plonks gradually morphing into nostalgic and fairly restrained peaks with a hint of Summer Camp. But from ‘Chevy Thunder’ (all en masse chants and Danny Blandy’s incessantly upbeat drums), the quintet is all about pure balls-to-the-wall, hedonistic kicks. ‘Friday Night, Don’t Ever Let It End’ slyly pilfers its opening, chiming guitar line from The Darkness’ ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)’ (entirely on purpose, we imagine) before turning into a kind of retro-Killers ode to partying which spirals out of control on synth-lines and tightly-plucked guitars alongside chants of “Friday night/I don’t want to wake up alive”. ‘Twenty Nothing’, meanwhile, encapsulates the ideology of the band in one fell swoop, strung out on guitar jerks so ‘Is This It’ they may as well come with a free pair of Converse signed by Julian Casablancas. The song’s full of witty lyrical observations (“I’m riding shotgun, seeing how it feels/Now his car’s got two third wheels”), and is a celebration of youth and the strangely triumphant, self-deprecating sense of inevitable failure. ‘Lay Low’ – all crooning vocals and slow-building misty-edged romance – brings the tempo down before turning into a lighters-aloft anthem (as all good indie ballads should), whilst ‘What You Wanted’ brings the football terrace sing-a-longs, before 2011’s single ‘Never Fade Away’ closes proceedings in suitably epic fashion.

Spector - Chevy Thunder from Foundation Content on Vimeo.

Spector - 'Grey Shirt and Tie' from Mikey Levelle on Vimeo.

Opening number ‘True Love (For Now)’, has a gentle beginning to ease the listener in before launching into the chorus and rounding up with ‘If this isn’t love, tell me what is’, that sets the pace for the rest of the record.

This album has been described as “bi-products of romance, heartbreak, nostalgia and social monotony” which is felt in every song,  from ‘Friday Night, Don’t Ever Let It End’, to ‘Celestine’: ‘I’d meet all the girls/ who are beautiful now but were miserable then,’ and ‘Grey Shirt and Tie’: ‘I know we’re getting older/ every night and each day.’

Enjoy It While It Lasts is a perfect  debut of ups and downs, promises of love and devotion and memories of an easier time. Closing track, ‘Never Fade Away’, which was one of their first songs to surface, rounds up the album beautifully. A guarantee of staying, ‘I’ll never fade away / .. I’ll never break in two / .. if I do it’ll be because you asked me to’, portrays an image of the band wanting your trust and promises that  they’ll give everything to you. And trust them is what you will want to do.

(forgetoday)