Spector, I have been expecting you. When you are expecting something for so long and you are certain of the result of your expectation, what can easily happen is that you end up empty handed, ergo, empty eared. After few incredible singles and surprisingly good debut Enjoy It While It Lasts, we have got the new album from Spector. This London based band is remembered as humorous and fun, capable of making hits that never leave your head. By adding a bunch of synths to their indie rock sound, at moments it seemed like they want to follow the road The Killers have already taken. With their second record, they have changed the direction and oriented towards different audience.
At first sight, everything is the same. There are synths and guitars, interesting vocal, solid lyrics but everything is ultimately peaceful. Now they sound like they want to become a synth version of The National. Of course, change of direction has its advantages such as wide range of fans – from those who love Depeche Mode to those modern lovers of The xx. If you are looking for the new Celestine of Chevy Thunder, you will not find it here. Repertoire you are expecting might leave you disappointed but just give it another chance.
Opening track All The Sad Young Men instantly presented me with their new way of making music. A very monotonous synth song with gradual pump of the atmosphere where the vocal is only recognizable in the chorus, should not have been the first single.
Stay High sounds like A-ha have returned to the scene. Balancing between Yazoo and Depeche Mode emerged in few tracks, while Bad Boyfriend reminded me of the ballades from their first album.
Moth Boys is big change of path in Spector’s carerr. Who would have said they would do that after only one album when their career was already pretty successful? Obviously, they have noticed that dark souls are highly popular nowadays so they wanted to take the piece of the cake. It wouldn’t been a problem If they tried to make their sound a little bit more interesting.
However, many of us were expecting that successor of Enjoy It While it Last will crown Spector as kings of the Island. Now it seems like there won’t be a third album.
