SPIN SPIN THE DOGS / PLEASE Split LP

Description

This addition to Upset The Rhythm’s series of split 12″s from the UK underground sees Spin Spin The Dogs team up with cartwheeling melodicists Please, demonstrating the bands’ shared love of flipping the mundane on its head whilst running with the pulse of punk today.

Spin Spin’s side wonderfully captures a fact known to many who’ve seen the band live; that they abandoned conventional truth years ago.

Opener “Jumbo” sets the tone for the record with its quotidian focus and attention-tossing interplay, sounding as natural and quintessentially English as it gets. A song dealing with childhood promise and the realities of growing up, it lets the guitars freely roam. Forthright drums cement a core that singer Vincent Larkin uses to tumble his words across. “Every single word I say, could make you laugh, could make you cry”, confesses Vincent, with his commanding yet oft-deadpan holler.

It’s this tragicomic focus that best denotes the band’s personality. Shown further with track “Inner Peace”, which uncovers truths of divine idiocy in the face of a spiritual awakening. Other tracks like “Biggest Fist” and “New Bad Boy” (featuring some choice cowbell and horn blowing) also show off Spin Spin’s love for the outlandish right-siding of song structure, transmitting short bursts of energy which test the limits before plaintively collapsing.

Paintings of American songwriter Randy Newman in a relaxed yet dynamic pose are featured throughout the record’s artwork. Painstakingly hand crafted by members of both bands over days, months and years, the joint artwork is a good example of why this record works so well – they share a common sense of humour, a fondness for each other and a mindset of offering the unexpected.

Please and Spin Spin The Dogs combined on one LP make the UK underground a more fun place to lose your mind.