SPARE SNARE
The Brutal (Chute)
There can’t be many mid-fiftysomethings who take a lump sum out of their pension and spend it on flying Steve Albini to Scotland for an intense five days of recording in a studio in Leith. But then Jan Burnett and his band Spare Snare have always been ones to march to the beat of their own drum.
The lo-fi Peel faves’ 12th album – a reunion with Albini, after 2018’s Sounds – is invigorated by guest musicians Gary Barnacle and Terry Edwards, who between them have worked with everyone from The Clash and PJ Harvey to Tom Waits and Phil Collins. Their contributions – adding what Burnett has called “a bit of a crazy jazz angle” – are most prominent on the sax squall of Ring To Me and the uncharacteristically aggressive clatter of Wifi.
However, both tracks are overshadowed by the reflective Bleached Out Rainbows, and I Have You, which builds with motorik purpose to a Spiritualized-style wall of horns before the drums drop out altogether. Spare snare indeed.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
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