{"id":25593,"date":"2023-07-09T05:30:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T09:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25593"},"modified":"2023-07-09T09:35:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T13:35:29","slug":"album-reviews-the-spygenius-back-catalog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/09\/album-reviews-the-spygenius-back-catalog\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Reviews: The Spygenius Back Catalog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Spygenius \u2013 Songs from the Devil\u2019s Typist <\/i>(circa 2008)<\/b>
\nCompared to their more recent output \u2013 but only in that context \u2013 Spygenius\u2019s debut album initially comes off as a bit on the conventional side. But all of the qualities that would make the group’s music appealing are in place \u2013 the finely-tuned arrangements, intelligent lyrics and tight, inventive ensemble playing \u2013 are all there. And then if one digs just a bit deeper, the humor that characterizes their approach breaks right through to the surface. How else to explain what seems like a straight-ahead rocker, \u201cT F Bundy\u201d? I had to have it explained to me, but that \u201cname\u201d is in fact an acronym used (apparently) in UK hospitals. It stands for \u201cTotally Fucked But Unfortunately Not Dead Yet.\u201d Taken as a whole, Songs from the Devil\u2019s Typist<\/i> rocks harder than some later efforts. On its face, that\u2019s neither a plus nor a minus; it\u2019s merely a sign of the group\u2019s range and variety.<\/p>\n

\"\"Spygenius \u2013 Red Lounge <\/i>(circa 2010)<\/b>
\nPeter and Ruth\u2019s affinity for mid-mod and tiki d\u00e9cor finds expression in the packaging of this, Spygenius\u2019s second full length release. The sound is even more wide-screen than before, and Matt Byrne\u2019s keyboards are applied to even better effect. The dense lyricism of the album is among its defining qualities. As strong a debut as Typist<\/i> was, Red Lounge<\/i> represents a great leap forward. Subtlety and sharpness are served up in equal measure. The crackling energy of early XTC is paired with the intricacy of that group\u2019s later work, all while not sounding very much at all like XTC (so there!). Special note should be made of the tricky treat that is Spygenius\u2019s vocal harmony.<\/p>\n

\"\"Spygenius \u2013 The Comforting Suture<\/i><\/b>
\nFrom the album art to the song titles, one can never be quite sure what Spygenius are on about. And that\u2019s fine; it isn\u2019t necessary to understand the group’s motivations to luxuriate in their music. Spygenius draws so deftly from far corners of the pop landscape to craft its signature music that one can\u2019t help but be impressed… and even a bit overwhelmed. The Comforting Suture<\/i> (what?) opens with a dazzling \u201cSpygenius 65,\u201d an instrumental work that calls to mind surf rock, spaghetti westerns, flamenco and who-knows what else, all at once. It segues right into the supercharged and multilayered \u201cFurniture Boats.\u201d In some ways, the group\u2019s third album marks the full flowering of what might be thought of as the Spygenius \u201csound.\u201d but the band\u2019s approach is so complex (in a good way) that variety is really the music\u2019s defining feature. And oh oh oh, those countermelodic harmonies!<\/p>\n

\"\"Spygenius \u2013 \u2018Pac\u00e9phale <\/i>(2016)<\/b>
\nThis album \u2013 with a title I wouldn\u2019t hazard to pronounce, much less describe \u2013 signals the beginning of the \u201cbranding\u201d courtesy of the band\u2019s friend and associate Champniss, the artist responsible for the visuals that would be a key part of all subsequent releases. But as ever, the music is the main thing. And the intricate vocal arrangements, wonderfully nuanced keyboard work, rock-solid percussion, propulsive and complex basswork and cheerfully chiming guitars simply abound throughout this record. Four albums in, Spygenius manage the rare feat of making each album better than the last.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d do well to pick up all of these, and of course the more recent three I\u2019ve covered elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spygenius \u2013 Songs from the Devil\u2019s Typist (circa 2008) Compared to their more recent output \u2013 but only in that context \u2013 Spygenius\u2019s debut album initially comes off as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,65],"tags":[4255],"class_list":["post-25593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rawk","category-review","tag-spygenius","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25593"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25611,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25593\/revisions\/25611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}