I was prepared for a quiet afternoon on the final day of this year’s Indietracks, but upon walking into the arena I was assaulted (in a good way) by some serious aural pleasure. And I began dancing. And it wasn’t until the end of the set that I stopped. This is not entirely like me. But then, I had just encountered Spook School.
At the end of their set, their…unusual drummer Niall handed what seemed to be around 50- odd CD EPs into the crowd. As I’m sure some things reviewed on here don’t even sell 50 copies, I think it’s only fair to treat this as a ‘real’ release, for not only is its lead track available for free download, but it’s also a bloody good record.
Seeing Spook School live, it was the music that really made the most impression. Bass, lead guitar and drums all provided the usual indiepop fare, but there was a real driving, insistent, slightly grinding rhythm guitar part behind all of that which made gave them an edge over the rest of their field. The vocals were also a joy, being both hugely tuneful and with a delightful Scottish lilt to them. Y’know, the sort of thing that you always want Belle & Sebastian to sound like, but they never really do. I didn’t manage to catch many of the lyrics, but those I did hear were, again, way above par for the course.
Another highlight was when they stopped playing noisy indiepop and singer Naomi took out her ukulele. Often with indiepop bands, they find a sound and stick with it. Not so Spook School.
And finally there was Niall The Drummer, looking like Howard Moon dressed as Vince Noir. “It’s Disco O’Clock!” he yelled at one point. “Is it, Niall? Is it really Disco O’Clock, or have you just taken your top off again?” queried Naomi, the aforementioned singer. Niall did have his top off. She hadn’t needed to look. He’d also gone to the trouble of handwriting (and then scanning and posting) a quite troubling love letter to Allo Darlin. All of them. And posting it on
the Indietracks blog He took the time to tell us of this, too. I apologise if I’m making him sound irritating, but throughout the gig he managed to stay just the right side of ‘amusing’ rather than ‘shut up, drummer’.
But that was the gig. This is the EP.
Track One: History
We begin with ‘History’ which is, I suppose, the closest thing that the band have to an actual single right now, as it’s freely available on Youtube.
“I was a boy or so it’s told / I was a girl or so it’s told / Don’t believe a word you’re told”
Like a lot of Spook School songs, this is an enigmatic number. It has a gorgeous indiepop riff, driven along by almost military-style drumming in places, and accompanied by the same grinding guitar that they were able to utilise live to such insistent effect. The vocals are just as charming as their live performance. Naomi’s Scottish accent is one that you tend not to hear much in pop. Think of Bobby Gillespie, Belle & Sebastian, the Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub etc. They’re all Scottish acts, yet they always tend to sound English, if not mid-Atlantic. It’s a pleasure to hear something genuinely different and it really helps to add the edge to the band’s rather odd lyrics.
“Gather up the stories that I’ve sold / I hope we find a true one / before the two of us get too old.”
The band claim that “they try to write fun, catchy pop songs like T-Rex and the Buzzcocks” although if that was the case, I doubt I’d be too interested. To me there are a lot of elements of the Blue Orchids in there. I’m not trying to be too wilfully obscure here; if you don’t know them, they’re the band Martin Bramah – the first Fall guitarist – formed after leaving the band. Like Spook School I suppose technically they’re producing ‘normal tunes’ – normal instruments, normal verse/chorus/verse structures, but there’s something jarring about them.
Something that makes them stand out. Something that makes them better.
“I’m sitting here just eating Jaffa Cakes / while your sense of humour sinks into the sea”
Another comparison could be drawn with the late 70s/early 80s Sheffield scene; bands like the joyfully slightly off-kiler Scarborough Antelopes or even really, really early Pulp from the time before the debut album. Like Jarvis and co, they’re faithfully reproducing a variation of the music in their record collections, but it’s reflected through such a queerly distorted viewpoint that it never does sound entirely like anything that has occurred before.
“You’re always in the bedroom singing ‘Please, Please, Please / While I am in the service station sniffing magic trees / Sometimes I wish you’d get on a train to Belize / but you’d probably take with you my signed photo of John Cleese”
And then those lyrics. Sometimes comedic, but always deadpan. You’re not even sure they know which bits are laugh out loud funny and which bits seem just honest and true.
And they end it with lots of la la las. It’s a very finely polished pop record. It’s a 4/5.
Track Two: Hallam
If we’re still playing the ‘early Pulp‘ game, and ‘History’ was musically ‘Sickly Grin’ with lyrics that Jarvis wouldn’t be capable of ’til six years later, then this is musically an elongated ‘Boats and Trains’. Or ‘Blue Girls’. It’s creepy and atmospheric like both of those songs, although its lyrics aren’t anything that Jarvis would have been capable of ’til ten years after those tracks.
“I walked along the coastline / along the path of the sea / my love he waited for me / he wore a pearl-green dress that went down to his knees / I wore a shirt and tie only / he spoke to me about the decline of masculinity / whilst I set about polishing his shoes”
When did you last hear a pop band writing and singing stuff like that? Jesus, it sounds like medieval folk poetry or something from the Wicker Man. It’s just odd. But not ‘odd’ in a ‘look at me’ sort of way, but ‘odd’ as in we’re listening to someone who thinks differently and processes things in a unique way. And when she writes, this comes out.
I’ve spent most of the last fifteen years in bands myself and learnt, and was told, a long time ago that lyrics were my forte. I think I’m a good lyricist, which is why so many bands disappoint me. Some people make amazing sounds and then sing trite and dull and meaningless words over the top. Take Interpol – cracking music, but here you are with your stage and your listeners who are willing to listen…and what have you got? Sod all.
This, however, is brilliant stuff. Weird stuff. But you will listen. The words demand it.
“We waded out into the salty, stinging water / I said the sun or me you can only have one to choose and come and live in candlelight, no-one can see us laugh and cry.”
Lyrics aside, it’s a well produced record, this. It has seagulls on it, but it’s also ukulele led, which is something Spook School are far better at on record than they were live. Not that they were bad at it live, but it’s easier to capture an eerie atmosphere on record than in the sunshine at a festival.
Again there’s a lot of la la las backing, and it draws you in. Right in. The song creeps gently from start to finish, being well produced without being over produced. It’s a suitable vehicle for the lyrics and vocals.
“My love he stays there by the sea / Shaving his legs on a piece of sharpened shell / My foot slips in the black night / I tumble deep into the sea / I will sleep there as he awaits the kiss of dawn.”
And that’s all it needs to be. Anything else would be less than perfect.
Track Three: Are You Who You Think You Are?
“There’s too much of me and it’s getting me down / Too little of me to be spreading ’round this town”
This track is much less produced than the previous numbers, but what it lacks in tightness it makes up for in enthusiasm and warmth. The musicianship is generally looser, yet the drums – for example – still power the song along giving it a different dynamic to the previous tracks.
“I know who I am and I know what I feel / so I have a few problems accepting what is real.”
And again, of course, there are some pretty odd lyrics, but the chorus is still pretty infectious, and the last part of each verse also cries out for a stadium-sized shoutalong.
“I felt like a victory walking in here / everyone looked up as if I was so weird”.
It’s all in the phrasing. Naomi sings a little on the offbeat on this song, and when coupled with the loose drums and the grinding guitar it means that the song gets right under your skin.
“I need to go anywhere / so long as it’s not home”.
Again if we’re playing the ‘early Pulp’ card then it’s going to be ‘What Do You Say?’, but perhaps more lyrically than musically this time. Of course, once again Spook School are still writing lyrics well above the standard of the foetal Cocker, and way, way above the standard of almost all of their contemporaries.
I love this song. 5/5
Track Four: And That’s Why I Ran Away
This track is led by the bass with, again, some lovely slow drum fills which add some depth to the music. The musicianship and musical direction is, as ever, pretty flawless on this. At times the song breaks down to featuring just the unaccompanied riff before the drums slowly fill back in and the song is powered back into the melodic chorus.
“I bought a cut price happy meal / I wanted to show how I feel.”
There’s another gorgeous rhythm guitar part too which once again brings back the feel of the Blue Orchids although, sadly, the lyrics are a lot more muffled on this one than the other tracks. It sounds like it’s been cut in a rehearsal room, but I’d love to hear a Stephen Street-esque producer work his magic on this.
Another band that Spook School remind me of are the very rough around the edges Tiger (who Street did produce). Again, that buzzsaw rhythm guitar, the odd lyrics and the general air of joy.
Track Five: History (alternative Summer night-time version)
For some reason, Spook School decided to end this record with a slower, overproduced and heavily phasey/swaying version of the first track, with Adam singing instead of Naomi. It finishes the collection in a very low key way and it really zaps all the energy from the original.
This is a shame as live, Adam was a good singer, but is underrepresented on this EP. And this track just does nothing for me. Maybe it might have had I not heard the ‘normal’ version? But either way, this is a very anticlimactic way to finish the record.
Overall Record: 4/5
I love Spook School. They have a record coming out on Cloudberry Records soon. I bet it’ll be ace.
http://thespookschool.com/
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