The band grew out of a healthy Bristol session scene in the mid nineties, coming together from different directions - classical, folk, rock. They have made two previous albums, one as the Famous Five and then under their current name, the critically acclaimed “Pole Star”. Since their formation in 1993 the band have toured to venues and festivals across Europe including Glastonbury, The Brighton Festival, The Big Chill, The Barbican and the Royal Opera House’s Lindbergh Studio with residencies at the Royal Opera House’s “Ignite” series and the Royal Festival Hall. They have also worked, as a band and as individuals, with the National Portrait Gallery, Theatre Alibi and Kneehigh Theatre Company and contributed scores for choreographers and dancers.
Their new album “Lightbox”, from which “Live In Box” is drawn, was recorded at Real World Studios in Box late last year with some production by Simon Emmerson (The Imagined Village, Afro Celt Sound System). The album contains a number of original compositions plus their trademark arrangements of Northern English traditional songs including “The White Hart”, theme tune of the hit BBC2 nature series “Johnny’s Kingdom”. The band work fast in the studio often nailing the tune in one or two takes and eschewing the convenience of overdubs or tricks. The intention being that what is recorded should be playable live. This results in a spontaneous yet intricate sound which shimmers with vital presence.
Arrangements may start with a tune or a riff, some of the tunes on the new CD have been distilling for 12 years. Sometimes the traditional tune is dropped and the backing comes to the fore. The result is a fine web of sound in which no instrument dominates, the whole being the sum of the parts. The key to Spiro’s success, and almost certainly a result of the longevity of the band, is their superb ensemble playing resulting in what the band refer to as “the mesh”. An absence of almost all ornamentation in the playing allows the individual instruments to make that mesh more easily. There is no showboating in Spiro, the sum of the whole becomes their strength and often creates the impression as band member Jon Hunt points out “that I am playing the band instead of the guitar.”
The high emotion the band achieves lies in this collective approach. The use of repetition, cycles and loops can bring a trance-like feel to the proceedings, mesmerizing moods. Repeated listening to tunes will often bring out hidden aspects to the songs. The listener gets to hear different things within passages each time they are heard. Sometimes a rhythmic structure will re-arrange itself, as a new pattern of notes seems to jump out unexpected on the second time around.
This is music which can be revisited again and again each time sounding as fresh as the first. This is music with no sell by date, floating out there in a world of its own but worldly all the same. You are welcome to open up the box.