Originally released in August, this review relates to the limited blue vinyl which I don't have but looks nice anyway.
"Calm" is their ninth album in ten years and pretty much distils what they are all about into twelve songs. If you think they sound like 90's pioneers Curve then that would be explained by the presence of Dean Garcia in both bands and likewise a female vocalist.
In this case it is Dean's daughter Rose Berlin. Toni Halliday was perhaps more strident vocally in Curve whereas Rose ups the ethereal ante with SPC ECO. Other than that it ticks all the same boxes of wall of noise guitars, heavy bass and shoegaze, with brittle pop melodies peaking through the veil of fog, as their predecessors.
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This is no bad thing as they were a very good band and it was Dean's blueprint after all. Although, producer Alan Moulder had a fair amount to do with it as well. It's a solid album with no obvious weak links. The second half seems to ditch the wall of noise in favour of something more 'spaced out' which naturally brings the vocals more to the middle of the mix whilst still retaining their otherworldly qualities.
If you only end up with one SPC ECO album, this maybe the one to grab. On vinyl, natch.
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