Spectrals / Get A Grip

Slumberland

Spectrals is 21-year-old Louis Jones. Mixing ingredients of pop, soul, doo-wop and garage rock ballads, it sounds vintage but current, while the Yorkshire lilt in Jones’s voice (a result of his hometown, Heckmondwike) places him firmly in the UK, rather than Detroit. Spectrals has always been a small operation. Now in its third year of existence, Jones started by recording in a friend’s knocked-together studio and posting the tracks on MySpace. Despite being intended for his closest friends, his songs soon attracted the attention of discerning labels all over the world: from Brooklyn’s Captured Tracks (Dum Dum Girls, Wild Nothing) to Brighton’s Sex Is Disgusting (Mazes, Human Hair) to Underground Peoples, where he eventually released last year’s Extended Play. “Get a Grip” is the first single from Bad Penny (Spectrals’ full-length debut album recorded with Richard Formby), and an excellent slice of swinging, soulful pop it is. According to Jones: “I thought I’d try and do more upbeat, ‘slick’ material, like a lot of the ’70s soul I’m into…. ‘Get a Grip’ is that, but in the lyrics, I’m just going on at myself. I make myself miserable and I can’t help it; all my songs are about a girl but I can’t whinge about her and not point the finger closer to home.” From the shining guitar chords to the lazy melody, this is a perfectly crafted tune and a superb taster for the deep, immaculately-conceived and executed album.

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