Let Spin - Steal the Light (2020) Hi Res

Since their inception, Let Spin have maintained an egalitarian musical ethos, giving each member the opportunity to write for the project and have equal say over its decision-making. Yet, with their third album, Steal The Light, it is the progress they have made in developing their respective compositional voices and musical outlooks independently that has resulted in their most accomplished, experimental and meticulously-produced album to date.

When guitarist Moss Freed, bassist Ruth Goller, drummer Finlay Panter, and saxophonist Chris Williams convened at Hull University’s Duality studio, they each harboured desires to use the studio as an instrument, to implement inspirations found in music beyond the worlds of jazz and rock, and to challenge some of the conventions of meter, groove and melody. To realise their ambitions, the group worked closely with engineer/producer Alex Killpartrick (Kit Downes, Alice Zawadzki, Liam Noble), inviting him to have a greater creative influence than on either of their previous two records - one of which he mastered and one of which he mixed.

Prior to the sessions, the band members exchanged mixtapes, introducing each other to electronic soundscapes and production techniques that would ensure a clear vision and cohesive sound. With Killpartrick at the board, their compositions were captured as live takes, but with caution taken to separate each instrument, so that their performances could be manipulated with effects in post production. This method reaps rewards on Morecambe, in which a breathy gated reverb lurches out from beneath each snare strike. Inspired by the hip-hop drumming of Chris Dave, it hears Finlay Panter experimenting with playing ‘off the click - out of time, but in time’. Every piece of his kit has its own character, occupying its own place in the sound stage. Interacting with Goller’s dry, buzzing bass stabs, Freed’s reverb-drenched guitar and Williams’ emotive sax lines, a three-dimensional production is born.

Opener Wormholes hears Panter’s linear pattern lock in rhythmically with Williams’ punctual sax melody, before a free passage of swelling guitar chords and creative studio manipulation takes hold. Freed drew inspiration from skipping CDs and time trickery to create the arrangement, exploring ‘new ways to organise free playing’ in the central section, with ‘frozen chords’ starting together and gradually drifting apart. Goller’s Sketch - the album’s first single, accompanied by a video from Antony Barkworth-Knight - juxtaposes a hard-edged, purposeful groove with bright, wandering guitar and sax lines, reflecting her love for ‘the sound of guitar and sax in unison, jumping around in pretty big intervals.’ Ghostly benefits from the contributions of celebrated composer, pianist and organist Kit Downes, who chopped-up, re-ordered, and added layers to the composition, before mixing it.

In experimenting with time and space, challenging their own compositional tendencies and striving for a more experimental production style, Let Spin have crafted a fluid yet focussed LP that reflects their maturity and ambition. Fans of the boundary-pushing projects led by Mark Guiliana, Petter Eldh, Anton Eger and Jim Black are certain to appreciate Steal the Light’s enticing sound world.