LOST IN THE CITY
(IMA Winner for Riley McMahon as Best Producer and double IMA Nominee for Best Adult Alternative Song (I Don’t Regret) and Best Eclectic Album.
Spottiswoode & His Enemies’ seventh album is the band’s most ambitious song cycle to date, a giddy brew of jazz, chanson, rock, blues and minimalism. The music reflects the raw energy and sophistication of the city the band has called home for the last two decades. Whether joined by a string quartet, gospel-infused backing vocals, a beefed-up horn section or simply left to their own devices, the band is at its righteous best.
The journey starts with a walk to the Hudson. The singer reflects on his life in Manhattan and stares across the river. “What do you see on the other side?” chant the backing vocalists. “It’s not heaven,” he replies. “It’s just Hoboken.” Suddenly, what had started as a ballad for piano and strings erupts into a Springsteenesque rock anthem. A silly joke about New Jersey or a heartfelt meditation on life and death? Dan Reed of WXPN explains: “They do something few bands can do: evoke real emotions, sometimes several different ones in a single song.”
The eighteen-track adventure proclaims its jazz bona fides with a series of blistering and lyrical solos from Candace DeBartolo (sax) and Kevin Cordt (trumpet). Still, the band refuses to be pigeon-holed. At any moment Spottiswoode might turn down a rainy boulevard to meet a chamber quartet or encourage his Enemies to tear off the shackles and rock out. You can throw any quick elevator pitch straight out the 42nd floor window.