“I will have children, and I will love them more than anything in the world… In their eyes I will be the smartest and the strongest person on earth,” – Holden Caulfield mused melancholically in Salinger. The rebel grasped the very essence: fatherhood is the only legal way for a cynic to become a superhero again. True, Holden forgot to add that this status has a strict expiration date. Roughly until the child turns eleven, when parental dancing and music begin to evoke only a polite: “Dad, stop it.”
The Anglo-American troubadour Spottiswoode felt this deadline in his bones. His new album “IT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT” is a therapeutic and desperate gesture: to release a beautiful record about fatherhood before his ten-year-old daughter grows up and starts to feel embarrassed by him.
Spott, as befits a rocker, drew inspiration for many years from stories of broken hearts. But the drama ended when his main muse entered the ring – his daughter Sophie Lee. “Now that I’m a father I’m blown away by how few tunes there really are about the relationship between parent and child. Are other older artists scared of being considered fossils? My mission as a songwriter has always been to channel the experiences of my life into words and music. Nothing has changed. Except me.”
Spottiswoode’s daughter Sophie Lee
Rock culture is fixated on teenage rebellion, but almost never speaks about the moment when you stand in the middle of a child’s room, having stepped on a Lego piece, and feel absolute happiness. Spottiswoode was not afraid of sentimentality, but managed without cloying sweetness. I suppose many will decide that they are in for twelve dreary lullabies under acoustic – and they will be mistaken. “IT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT” is a stylistic attraction, reminiscent of the daily schedule of a young father: from panic to serenity. Retro R&B in the title track with an infectious rhythm that makes you want to dance in a 60s style sits alongside the light pop of “Prayer #1” and the damn melodic “Old Man At The Station”. One of my favorites is the touching “Oh, What A Beautiful World.” The lyrical ballads “When I’m With You” and “Through The Shadows “are vulnerability without anesthesia.
There is lounge noir with cinematic gloom – “The Bullet’s Coming” and “I’m A Worrier” – and the philosophical boogie-woogie You Think Too Much: a monologue of a person who knows he thinks too much, but can’t do anything about it. And the final gospel burst “Summer Day“, after which you immediately want to hit repeat. Having abandoned his septet Spottiswoode & His Enemies, the musician chose a more stripped-down form – an electric quartet. In the Brooklyn studio Brooklyn Pearl, under the supervision of producer Peter Fox, a precise and lively lineup assembled: Brian Geltner, Drew Hart, Kenny White, and Spott himself – on vocals and Fender Strat. But the main treasures are in the voices. Soul diva Martha Redbone literally blows the roof off on several tracks, and the real point of attraction is Sophie Lee on backing vocals.
“I wanted this collection to have a very specific sound, a sound that reflects the material, the sound of a child singing,” – says Spott. When they sing together, the cynicism of the industry collapses. An audio time capsule emerges: a father captures a moment of harmony before his daughter discovers heavy metal.
Spottiswoode is a man of the Renaissance: a playwright, author of rock musicals, and screenwriter. But “IT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT” is his best script. Listen to it. Perhaps after these twelve tracks you will want to rewrite your own life script – or become a father.
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