NEW ALBUM NOW OR WHENEVER GETS NEW RELEASE DATE OF 7 JANUARY 2022, VIA MOTH NOISE
UK HEADLINE TOUR ON SALE NOW
Spector have shared an instantly iconic video for new single ‘I’m Not Crying You’re Crying’,
‘I’m Not Crying You’re Crying’ is the latest single to come from the band’s highly anticipated third album Now Or Whenever, which is set for release January 7th via Moth Noise.
Now Or Whenever is the long awaited third full length release from the cult band. The album follows the critically acclaimed Enjoy It While It Lasts (2012), Moth Boys (2015) and EP compilation Non-Fiction (2020), records which built a culture around the group and accrued them a fiercely loyal fan base, making Spector one of Britain’s most-loved alternative outfits.
‘I’m Not Crying You’re Crying’ is Spector at their most raw and confessional, an affecting cut that sees Macpherson at his lyrical best and gloriously counteracts the energetic previous singles from the record. Macpherson explains, “We wrote ‘I’m Not Crying You’re Crying’ with self-proclaimed ‘king of chords’ MT Hadley last year in the early days after lockdown one. He suggested we all keep our masks on throughout the session, which meant we couldn’t see each other’s facial expressions as we came up with it. I think that’s how we found the precipice between tragedy and comedy. There’s no excuse for the fretless bass though”.
Accompanying the track is one of the band’s most inventive videos to date, featuring the duo as puppets on a sightseeing tour around our nation’s capital. Speaking about the video, Macpherson continued… “I can’t remember who came up with the idea for this video, but they’ve got a lot to answer for. We knew it had gone too far when mini-Fred arrived on my doorstep a few months later – cold, hungry and ready for his closeup. Before we knew it Jed had been cloned too, and I was sitting on an open top bus tour of London lip syncing in front of some bemused looking tourists. It’s lucky we’ve worked with (director) Ciaran Wood before, because he didn’t blink when we said we wanted Muppet Movie magic on a Bodger and Badger budget… Something we’ve undeniably achieved here.”
Now Or Whenever is out January 7th on the band’s own label Moth Noise, the full tracklist can be found below, alongside the dates for the band’s UK headline tour (also rescheduled for January), for which tickets are on sale now.
More info on Now Or Whenever
Following the success of their 2019 tour and singles compilation Non-Fiction, Spector started work on Now or Whenever in the Spring of 2020. With band members locked down in different cities and countries, the core duo of Fred Macpherson and Jed Cullen opted for a more collaborative process than usual, working with friends and contemporaries both online and in the flesh where possible. An improvisatory approach to music and lyrics was encouraged, and in the absence of gigs the songs took on the idea of a theoretical concert of new material, delivered in the spirit of their impassioned live shows. The final songs were recorded in January 2021 at Coastal Sound, Liverpool by Rich Turvey (Blossoms, The Coral) who emphasised performances over production and heavier, stripped down arrangements.
Inspired by the vocal stylings and layered harmonies of British folk rock (Strawbs, Steeleye Span), the drunken riffs of American eighties alternative (The Replacements, Husker Dü) and raucous energy of Antipodean pub rock (Th’ Dudes, The Radiators), Now or Whenever is the sound of Spector at their irreverent best. Lyrics explore themes of time, memory, hope, the near future, cars and emotionally repressed adult friendships, but a sense of positivity shines through the fatalistic musings the band have become synonymous with.
It’s their first album with live instrumentation throughout, with drums recorded straight to decaying, thirty year old tape by Nicolas Py, the French cornerstone of Spector’s touring party for the last four years. Jed Cullen’s guitar also bursts into the foreground, experimenting with alternate tunings, drones and equipment left orphaned at the studio by the likes of Clinic and Chris De Burg.
“In some ways this is our first proper guitar album” explains Fred. “And the first album we’ve made in one studio in one sitting which is crazy. Next year will be the tenth anniversary of Enjoy It While It Lasts which feels like forever, but I think it’s taken us that long to work out what’s good about us and how to capture it. Which kind of makes Now or Whenever both a sequel and a reboot. Had last year unfolded differently, maybe this would be our big depressing opus, but when positivity’s taken away you have to create your own, and somehow that’s left us with our most upbeat record yet.”
“When there are huge changes happening on a global level and absolutely nothing happening on a local level, people ask you how you’ve been, what you’ve been up to etc. and there’s not much to say that they don’t already know” adds Jed. “So we start talking and writing about the past and the future as if to escape from this paradoxically mundane/extreme present. Then you step back and you realise that the strange conditions of the time are pervading your conversations and it’s coming out in the music in ways you didn’t expect.”
Album Tracklist1. When Saturday Comes2. Catch You On The Way Back In3. Do You Wanna Drive4. Norwegian Air5. Funny Way of Showing It6. No One Knows Better7. I’m Not Crying You’re Crying8. Bad Summer9. D-Roy10. This Time Next Year11. An American Warehouse In London
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
