| Springtime | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Springtime | ||||
| Released | November 5, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | 2021 | |||
| Studio | Dodgy Bros Studios(Nagambie, Victoria) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 46:42 | |||
| Label | TFS Records (AUS) Joyful Noise Recordings (US) | |||
| Producer | Springtime | |||
| Springtime chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Springtime | ||||
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Springtime is the eponymous debut album from Australian supergroupSpringtime, consisting ofGareth Liddiard,Chris Abrahams andJim White.[1][2] Recorded over 15 days at Liddiard's home studio in Nagambie, the largely-improvised album features lyrics from his uncleIan Duhig, in addition to aWill Oldham cover and a reworking of a track byThe Drones. It was released in Australia through TFS Records and in the US throughJoyful Noise Recordings to largely positive reviews.
At the2022 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated forARIA Award for Best Jazz Album.[3]
Springtime was conceived in early 2021 during theCOVID-19 lockdown in Australia, shortly after Liddiard had finished recordingTropical Fuck Storm's third albumDeep States.[4] Liddiard recalled that at the time both he and White - who was "stuck" in Australia after having returned fromBrooklyn for aXylouris White tour due to "some family shit" - "were both in the same boat slowly going broke."[4][5] In February, the duo performed a few shows inMelbourne which were billed as solo Liddiard shows,[6] after which Liddiard had the "idea" to add Abrahams (with whom he had previously performed inThe Triffids' 2008 reunion shows), thus making them a trio.[4]
The then-unnamed trio proceeded to perform a number of sold-out shows in early May, including one at the Brunswick Ballroom.[2][7] The name "Springtime" was chosen by White's "best friend"Guy Picciotto ofFugazi off of a list of possible names compiled by the members "in a rush".[5] On May 26, the group released a live rendition of the Drones song "Penumbra" recorded at the aforementioned Brunswick Ballroom performance and announced that they would release a full-length album late that year.[2][7]
"They were like night and day [...] [Deep States] was like pushing shit uphill because [of] all the lockdowns, and every time we got a good start, everything got shut down. It was like trying to train for the Olympics, but every two weeks you have to sit inside and not do anything for two weeks. It was a real drag, and actually really frustrating"
Springtime was recorded in Liddiard's home studio in Nagambie, titled Dodgy Bros Studios in the liner notes.[4] The recording of the album, according to Liddiard and White, involved a significant amount ofmusical improvisation and was completed in just 15 days with few overdubs.[4][8][9] Liddiard described the compositional process of the songs and the reasoning behind it as follows:[5]
I find it easier to improvise than by normal shit, and I think the guys would agree, it's just easier to come up with stuff. You don't have the pressure of remembering what you’re meant to be doing and all that. So yeah, it's fun and it's something to come up with stuff. It's quicker than with TFS. You know, we just, I just say, well, “I've got a few words”, and then Chris will go “let’s try these chords”. And we'll play it three times. And there it is. We've got a song. It's really, really easy.
Two of the album's songs feature lyrics from Liddiard's uncle, acclaimed poet Ian Duhig, whom he described as "one of the only capital G geniuses I’ve met."[4] His help was sought due to the fact that Liddiard "didn’t have a huge amount of lyrics in the spare parts department" having recently finished recordingDeep States: "So I thought, ‘Fuck, what am I gonna do? Oh yeah, my uncle’. So I just asked him if he’s got anything that would work lyrically."[4] Abrahams plays a 400kgSteinway & Sonsgrand piano worth$100,000 on the album that the trio had "scored" off of a rich neighbour of theirs who needed a place to store it whilst shifting house.[4][9]
Mojo's Martin Aston notes that Springtime has "two approaches": one of which is "more methodical" as exemplified by tracks such as "Will to Power" and the other of which is "rooted in improv".[10] Sharon O'Connell ofUncut writes that the album's tracks are shaped by the "[c]ircumstantial urgency" of its recording, finding that they combineart rock,free improvisation, "effects and electronicnoise, with deep space and unorthodox mixing a feature (at times, it sounds like White’s brush work is coming from half a mile away)."[9] Mosi Reeves ofThe Wire described the music as "free, but never carefree, full of spontaneity, acidity and momentum, sputtering in a thousand different, noisy directions at once."[11] Conversely, Michael Toland ofThe Big Takeover concluded that the results sound "closer to" Liddiard's previous bandThe Drones "than any of the principals’ other bands."[12] According to the press release written byDavid Yow ofThe Jesus Lizard-fame, the album "is so full of strange wanderings that are broken and piled up on themselves that the heads have no idea where their tails are, [...] These three gentlemen work, play and improvise together in an emotionally volatile universe. You could call it ‘jazz’, but that word is way too jazzy for what Springtime creates."[13]
The opening track and single "Will to Power" has been described as a "a vexing and visceral cut ofalt-rock fused with elements offree jazz, the soundscape growing more cluttered and intense as Liddiard takes aim at the likes of “con men, con jobs, moralisers, modern saviours, agonisers, snake oil pundits, mass psychosis, ism schism [and] hocus pocus”."[1] The track has been compared toNick Cave and the Bad Seeds[10] whilst Liddiard himself described it as a "disco jam" about humanity's tendency to do "more, more, more. Why can’t they just lounge about like lizards or kangaroos? What’s wrong with that?"[1] The album's second single "The Viaduct Love Suicide" is the first of two tracks on the album to feature lyrics by Duhig, who had dedicated the poem "to the memory" ofNHS worker Helen Rogan, who had committed suicide with herautistic son back in 2003, as well as other similar workers "in danger of – or actually being on – a treadmill of caring at work and at home with their own needs crushed, sometimes with tragic results."[14][15] The opening lines of the song quote from Japanese playwrightChikamatsu Monzaemon'sBunraku playThe Love Suicides at Sonezaki.[14] The song has been described as "devastating"[12] and compared toNeil Young's "Cortez the Killer"; Liddiard's vocals on it are as "tender as the tragedy demands".[9] "Jeannie In A Bottle", the second of two tracks to utilise Duhig's poetry, features vocals from Liddiard's partner and Tropical Fuck Storm-bandmate Fiona Kitschin on its choruses that are sung in afalsetto.[16][17] The "ominous, vaguely gothic"[16] song details the "perils of alcohol" in its titular character through its "ebbing, fraying drama".[10] Musically, it has been compared to the bandLiars.[9]
The "slow, floating pace" of the trio's rendition of the traditional Irish folk song "She Moved Through the Fair" earned comparisons to the albumOcean Songs by White's previous bandDirty Three[17] as well asslowcore bandLow.[4] "The Island" is a cover of the Drones song of the same name off of their 2002debut album that has been described as a "portrait of (quarantine) fear and isolation".[9] The "crooked and minimalblues"[17] track has been noted for its "slow build of improvisatory noise that overtakes [its] otherwise deliberate pace and volume".[12] "West Palm Beach" is a recording of a live cover of aWill Oldham song that he had originally released under the "Palace" moniker.[4] Liddiard revealed that they had decided to go with the live recording as he was unable to "nail" the vocals "in the studio."[4] The closing track "The Killing of the Village Idiot" is based on the fatal shooting of two Afghan civilians (one of whom was intellectually-disabled) by anSAS soldier (later nicknamed "Soldier C") in 2012 - an incident that was later informally-dubbed "the village idiot killing".[18][19] The song "forc[es] the listener to contemplate the war crime behavior of the Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan, with catharsis provided only by Liddiard’s industrial strengthguitar solos."[12]
Springtime was released on November 5, 2021, through TFS Records in Australia andJoyful Noise Recordings in the U.S.[1]
The release ofSpringtime was preceded by the release of two singles: "Will to Power" and "The Viaduct Love Suicide", both of which were accompanied by monochromatic music videos.[1][14] Both videos were directed by Matt McGuigan[1][14] and the former features shots of the band performing interspersed with clips from the 1922 silent horror filmHäxan.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 80/100[21] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Australian |   [16] |
| Mojo | [10] |
| Musikexpress |  [20] |
| OndaRock | 7.5/10[17] |
| Uncut | 7/10[9] |
The album has received largely positive reviews, currently holding aMetacritic score of 80 based on 4 reviews.[21] Aston called the album "exhilarating"[10] whilst O'Connell wondered whether a debut of this nature "might have been better served by an EP of original material. But then,Springtime isn’t some hopeful calling card made inside the industry machine. More infernal than vernal, it’s a document – of the coming together of three old hands and kindred spirits at a time when everything around them (and us) was coming apart."[9] Reeves complimented the "sublime chaos" of the album, which they described as "soar[ing] through crunchy riffs and fervent vocals".[11] Toland praised the album, finding that it "joins the list of great records with which Liddiard is frequently involved."[12] Frank Sawatzki ofMusikexpress similarly praised the album for its ability to create "another rock narrative fueled by melancholy and trauma, but one that repeatedly falls into non-rock worlds".[20]
In a month-end round-up of the best Australian music, Nathan Jolly ofThe Guardian included "The Killing of the Village Idiot". "The relative anonymity of this project will probably see it overlooked," Jolly concludes, "but this song deserves to sit withShark Fin Blues at the very top of Liddiard’s enviable canon."[22] Yow also praised the album, calling it "as monstrously ravishing as it is clumsy in its elegance."[23]
All tracks written by Springtime unless noted.
Adapted from the album's liner notes.
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| ARIA Albums Chart[24] | 34 |