Album Review: Spector - 'Now or Whenever'
An older, bolder Spector return with third album ‘Now or Whenever’ which retains the irreverent playfulness that makes the band so appealing.
Since last proper album ‘Moth Boys’ in 2015, Spector have experienced change – in personnel, in label, in society. An initial October release for this album was delayed due to vinyl pressing issues; it’s turned ‘Now or Whenever’ into an essential early release of 2022.
Minute-long instrumental ‘When Saturday Comes’ leads into ‘Catch You On The Way Back In’, one of five songs released last year. A single primed for sing-along status, it feels melancholic, as frontman Fred Macpherson sings: “Don’t ask me where I’m going like you don’t know where I’ve been.”
‘Now or Whenever’ sees more of the London band’s live energy captured in recordings produced by Rich Turvey. It is most prominent in ‘Norwegian Air’, showcasing Jed Cullen’s guitar and Nicolas Fy’s drums in a full-band effort that meet the bar Spector previously set for high-quality content. Meanwhile, ‘Funny Way of Showing It’ is a sad, slow thing that brims with the group’s core heart.
Sad-disco slice ‘No One Knows Better’ is grooving and moving, musing on the ever-changing wider society with lyrics like: “Our parents looking up addresses in the A to Z, maybe we’d feel better with all this behind us”. With the chorus, and Fred’s refrain “I’m not like you”, it feels like a 2022 reverse of The Dandy Warhols track ‘Bohemian Like You’ – unconventional, yet vitally enjoyable.
Spector aim to be larger-than-life, and then get engrossed in life itself – yearning equally for its beauty and its tragedy. Fred’s modern-day musings connect with audiences in a plethora of ways, like the 80s heart of ‘I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying’, over the top of Fy’s racing drumbeat beneath ‘Bad Summer’, or in their own spin on growing up with minimalist ballad ‘This Time Next Year’.
Epic finale ‘An American Warehouse in London’ is a further flirt with escapism, complete with chaotic instrumental outro. It rounds off a record that perfectly hits the line between melancholic and playful.
‘Now or Whenever’ is Spector being themselves, in a new era, cutting to the heart of humanity, regardless of the changes, and the delays. One thing remains true: when you get Spector, you will adore what they have to offer. Whether that’s now or whether that’s whenever is up to you.
Words by Samuel Draper
