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Spector: already a pop phenomenon
Indie | Thursday 30th August 2012 | Osh
Free BT London gig in Trafalgar Square yesterday
Spector played a free gig in Trafalgar Square to coincide with the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony yesterday evening. The concert was part of the BT London Live Series.
The five-piece band from London is surely one of the most talked about acts of 2012. Their album Enjoy It While It Lasts was released on August 13th and had been eagerly awaited for quite a while. Songs like 'Cellestine' and 'Chevy Thunder' had burst in on the UK's music scene with a whole heap of enthusiasm and eccentric coolness.
Spector make pop. They only draw on indie rock mechanisms to slap you in the face with one pop anthem after the other. And the thing is: it works brilliantly because they are authentic and – yes, it is as easy as that – good. Experiencing them live on stage must even sweep away the doubts of those who found them ridiculously over the top before. And I can say that because I was one of them. They are often compared to The Killers, which only does Spector justice when one actually refers to The Killers that charmed the music world when they first entered it. The melodramatic Killers from nowadays suffer exactly what Spector cleverly manage to avoid: being so dramatic that they're glam and cheesy. Far from that, Spector almost seem to have a twinkle in their eyes, they almost seem to cite their own eccentricity like post modern geniuses.
Spector played for half an hour and it is fair to say that they made use of the time they had in the most delightful, quirky way. The truth is that even a 60-year-old metalhead could have the time of his life on a Spector gig only because of singer Frederick Macpherson's fantastic, dry humour. For example did he inform the crowd that the album wasn't actually as big as it looked being projected on stage as a banner. He went on explaing that it was, in fact, small enough for a bag or the glove compartement of one's car but that precaution was recommended since this could encourage car crime. It is no surprise that the band's lyrics are that eloquent and at times poetic. This reflects perfectly who they are – not only as a blown up stage phenomenon, as one might expect due to the mentioned amount of drama in their music, but also as credible musicians.
Go get their album, but make sure not to leave it in your car. Or on your window sill. Or anywhere visible. Spector encourage pop crime!
Monya Beutelspacher
