SHA News // Spitzer / The Call [Infine]
Artist: Spitzer
Title: The Call
Label: Infine
Release: 3rd September 2012
Since the release of “Roller Coaster”, their first EP for InFiné, it has taken the Spitzer brothers almost two years to produce their debut album. And not just any old two years; these have seen unrelenting winds of change blow like never before.
North Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Russia, France, China: everywhere, there have been calls for Humankind to take its History back into its own hands. The idea of “The Call” perfectly captures the spirit of our movement-revering age; fittingly, this is also the title of the Spitzer brothers’ first album.
As teenagers, Damien – on drums – and Matthieu – on guitar – were already using pop and punk compositions to release their angst, summoning an American vocalist from time to time to sound more legitimate. Album track “Clunker”, which features Fab from Frustration (a band signed to Parisian imprint Born Bad), is an unmistakable digital salute to the alt-rock scene of the 90s. The raw and mutant energy that seeps through its every pore still drenches all of their productions.
Slightly broke, the two siblings eventually decided to swap their instruments for digital production tools and turn their flat – located in the Guillotière district of Lyon – into a home studio; they then proceeded to seal their union for good under the Spitzer moniker, as a nod to Al Pacino’s favourite cocktail in Donnie Brasco (the Spritzer).
Around the web at the time, the self-promotion guerrilla was raging with a plethora of free mp3 and flashy visuals being exchanged: the DIY ethos of the naughties was in full swing. Many artists fought to be recognised by the worldwide Blogosphere and get the most “friends” on Myspace. Spitzer played their cards right, scoring two remixes for Kylie Minogue and Sally Shapiro, as well as a world tour despite not having released a single record.
But Spitzer were starting to think about making a real album, displaying a new-found thirst for materiality. With the unfailing support of the Nuits Sonores team, which they’d enjoyed right from the early days, they stayed true to their Lyon roots and eventually ended up signing with the local purveyor of electronic music, InFiné. This led them to remix a track for Aufgang (“Sonar”) and release their debut EP in spring 2010 (“Roller Coaster”).
Although “The Call” is well and truly an electronic music album, its all-embracing musical approach and its narrative process actually put it on a par with records from the prog-rock era of the 70s. Tracks like “Sergen”, “Marsch” and “The Call” showcase an energy that is both disquieting and captivating. Reverberations of electronic feedback come crashing together against the cyclical and heavy synth mechanics, contorting themselves throughout this extensive, metallic and dark sound journey that keeps striving towards infinity.
The real true “lungful of air” on the album is, without a shadow of a doubt, “Too Hard to Breathe”, featuring KID A, who was already present on “Roller Coaster”. And yet this first album contains many other respirations, which provide the smoothest of transitions between the album’s various movements. This is when the Spitzer musical world takes on psychedelic hues, as on the intensely airy “Breaking the Waves”, the mesmerising “Sir Chester” or the electronic nursery rhyme that is “Masbat”.
Spitzer also have their eyes firmly set on cinematic atmosphere. The western-like guitars on “Madigan” seem to answer the galloping sounds of the Wild Bunch. As for the morbid yet magical album closer “Vor”, it could turn the most angelic child’s bedroom into a rather disturbing vision.
With this first-class first chapter, the Spitzer revolution does appear to be under way. Even though the boys do not intend their music to have any political undertones, this “Call” – at once outraged and restrained – will resonate on many levels with its audience.
Tracklist
1. Marsch
2. Madigan
3. Clunker feat Fab of Frustration
4. Breaking the Wave
5 The Call
6 Too Hard to Breathe feat Kid A
7. Sergen
8. Masbat
9. Sir Chester
10. Vor
