reach, grasp, taste

somesongsconsidered:

“Spitfire” – The Spinanes
(Words/music: Rebecca Gates & Scott Plouf, available on Manos, Sub Pop 1993)

I can remember the first time hearing some songs (or, at least, the first time when the song struck me) to varied degrees of detail; I used to know the first ten or twelve CDs that I bought and the circumstances of the purchase.  Then there’s songs where I struggle to figure out how I discovered them or when I first heard the band.  I know that I bought the Spinanes’ Manos album used (hey kids, remember used record stores?) at the now defunct In Your Ear on Thayer Street in Providence, RI (or that’s my guess at least based on the price tag on the CD case).  It had to be after I saw Rebecca Gates open for Ted Leo at a solo show at AS220, so let’s say that I found this in the winter of 2003-2004.  There, I’m a regular musical archaeologist, aren’t I?

Anyway, back to Gates opening for Ted Leo.  I remember that she performed a similar set (solo, playing an electric guitar) and that her performance style reminded me a lot of Ted Leo’s – both could play quiet, nimble guitar lines or both could play loud, jagged chords to break the mood.  Vocally, Gates and Leo were perfect foils for each other – his vocals leaped all over the map from loud shouts to soaring falsettos to rapidly fired bursts of Latin and French.  Gates’ preferred to stay in her natural lower register for the entire set, letting her vocals create a hazy sort of effect.  At points, it almost seemed like her voice provided the accompaniment to her more melodic guitar lines, which made the performance that much more interesting.

On record (at least on Manos, I have one other Spinanes record but haven’t listened since I got it), Gates and future Built to Spill drummer Scott Plouf continue in this same style – the drums and guitar lineup gives the songs a bit more muscle than a solo performance, but not quite as full sounding as a complete band.  This results in arrangements with a certain level of space – the guitars, drums, and vocals all take equal billing and stand out from each other.  In particular, the lack of a bass line makes the songs seem hollow, leaving plenty of room for one of these three elements to go off its own digression without muddling the mix.  The downside to this stripped down formula is that there’s only so much variation.  The songs are good, but they all tend to blend together by the end of the album.

For whatever reason, “Spitfire” is the only song that sticks out from the album.  Perhaps it’s the way that the song starts with Plouf’s distinctive beat or the way that Gates scratches out those first couple of chords.  When the verse starts, everything shifts into half time and gets a bit fuzzier.  Gates’ vocals hide behind her guitar and Plouf’s open hi-hat until the song snaps back to the opening tempo in time for the chorus of multi-tracked “spitfires” – the most distinctive song.  There’s enough variation between these two sections in tempo, enunciation, clarity, and the net effect to keep it interesting and make it stand out from the rest of the songs on the album.  This is probably why I can recognize “Spitfire” immediately and strain to connect any of the others songs to the band.

I love this song, especially the intro and outro. I would add that there are some other killer songs on this album, most notably “Noel, Jonah and Me,” which has a great riff and drum fills that act as a lead part. Also, they were totally great when I saw them play at Coney Island in, I want to say, 1993 (I booked the show; “Manos” had either just come out or was just about to come out; pHoaming Edison opened; roughly seven people came).