This is the first normal release from Spring Offensive for a little while – at least in the context of the previous couple, which have been an EP of acoustic tracks and the 13-minute megatrack ‘The First Of Many Dreams About Monsters’. Don’t go thinking, though, that ‘A Stutter And A Start’ is some kind of clutching-at-the-mainstream sellout attempt. Those other releases simply highlighted Spring Offensive as a band not afraid to stick a toe out of their collective comfort zone from time to time. They still remain a resolutely consistent and focussed act, with at their core a sound strong enough to handle these little stylistic diversions.
In some ways, that core sound is an extension and distillation of a couple of things that have preceded them in Oxford music, and music influenced by Oxford bands. Some years ago, Youthmovies (then Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies) blazed a trail for a new wave of post-post-rock, constructing a musical template out of cues from bands like Don Caballero, Oxes and Sweep The Leg Johnny. This begat the Foals-headed thrust of ‘mathy’ bands with a defiantly melodic centre, as also reflected in the work of bands like This Town Needs Guns.
Spring Offensive further this lineage, albeit in – so far – a limited way. Picking up on the sparse, frenetic guitar lines of later-period Foals, they’re representative of how sounds and song constructions that were once challenging are now almost completely assimilated into regular ‘indie’ music. A few years ago the notable peculiarities of ‘A Stutter And A Start’ may well have been the noiseless, pin-sharp guitar melodies and, well, stuttering rhythms; now, those musical tropes are familiar enough as to make way for their usage to be examined. The EP’s title track is a solid example of how to do this kind of music right – tight, efficient and memorable – and how to take familiar sounds and maintain a fresh, light and airy feel in their arrangement.
‘The Well’ strips things back further – built around a repeating single-note burble, slowly building up to uncover richer seams of melody, it hints at how much more Spring Offensive might have to offer, by stretching and moulding their musical template into something more unique. Finally, the Gunning For Tamar remix of ‘Abacus Rex’ widens the colour palette, introducing a very subtle electronica feel, and a less subtle, harder edge.
Lots of people keep saying that Spring Offensive are a band to watch. As long as they can keep throwing in curveballs to knock them off the path of the mainstream, I’m inclined to agree. They still have yet to drop something truly amazing, but the evidence is building to suggest that that is merely a question of time.