Haydon Spencely-Circles

Haydon Spenceley
Circles
©2008 Independent
www.myspace.com/haydonspenceley

I was so ready to slag this off after one listen but I give it another spin and was surprised at my thoughts after a second go ‘round. I like electronica. I came of age musically when the cost of technology dropped enough that the post punk scene became littered with anybody writing a catchy tune on a cheap analog synth. Some bands carved out a niche in musical history, others dropped off radar quickly.

I suppose we’re now at the edge of the technology/cost precipice where you can purchase software and achieve results at home on your Mac/PC that would have been prohibitively expensive just a few years ago. Again, the market is a DIY proposition. This can yield excitement from those who use the technology well and a fat strata of those who just plug and play offering up mediocrity and a stew of half baked ideas seasoned with generic playing.

Haydon’s strong point is his song writing. Chord progressions and melodies are well constructed and not culled from a pool of clichés. I actually felt the little instrumental vignettes were some of the most compelling moments of the whole album, which is largely vocal based. Actually the vocals are where I was let down a bit. His singing affectation(s) got on my aural nerves after a bit. Almost like the guy giving the speech that keeps saying, “You know?”. After a while, it’s all you can focus on even though he’s giving you the secret formula for staying young and thin. Haydon uses the phony British accent thing too much except on track 4 where he does a spot on Trent Reznor impersonation. Oh wait, Haydon is from the U.K. Okay, I gave you back a point for that faux pas on my part. The vocals are placed way up front in the mix which is not always a bad thing especially if you’ve got something to say which I think Haydon does. The other beef is that he needs to capture and make use of dynamics and breathing room in the music. Some tracks have vocals right through the whole song with nary a 2 bar break.
It makes me wonder how much better this would be with somebody like Flood behind the board twiddling and suggesting those spaces and creating greater dynamic range.
My somewhat faulty sense is that this was a home grown/recorded effort and would benefit from some tweaking. Overall, I’d recommend it as I think Haydon can seriously write and despite the vocal affectations he has a pleasant voice that fits his music. Count me in for the re-mixed album.

7.5/10 racks of Pro-Tools outboard gear.

DAA