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Stubb, Under a Spell 7″: Dangerous Games

Posted in Reviews on April 15th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

I’m not about to take credit or anything, but last year, when London-based trio Stubb posted a homemade video for the track “Under a Spell,” I said I thought the song, originally recorded for but left off of their 2012 self-titled debut (review here), was good enough to warrant release as a single. It had been included on a Ripple Music compilation, which was how it initially got out, but it seemed to me that with a Kozik-style cover and a track to pair with, “Under a Spell” would be more than able to hold its own on a 7″. Lo and behold, the band actually made it happen, teaming “Under a Spell” with new song “Bullets Rain (From the Angry Sky)” as a B-side for a Stone Stallion Rex Records release, limited to 300 copies press to blue vinyl. Again, I’m not taking credit, but it was cool at least to see that Stubb — comprised at the time of guitarist/vocalist Jack Dickinson, bassist/backing vocalist Peter Holland and drummer Christopher West (who’s since been replaced by Tom Fyfe) — also thought enough of the song to make Under a Spell happen in such a manner. One more time, not taking credit.

That being the case, and in light of my ongoing affections for Stubb‘s self-titled and these dudes in general — and in the case of Holland and West, for their other band Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight — I feel like it’s worth pointing out that when it comes to Under a Spell, likely any rock you might want to throw in any direction you might want to throw it is likely to hit a more impartial reviewer than I am, but with that disclaimer, I’ll also say that both “Under a Spell” and “Bullets Rain (From the Angry Sky)” actually have the songwriting to back up their fuzzy vibes. To wit, the single’s eponymous chorus emerges out of a moodier feel than most of what made up the self-titled and is grandiose without being pompous and a payoff for the tension created through the guest Hammond of Nick Siepmann during the verse. With cuts like “Hard Hearted Woman,” “Road” and “Scale the Mountain,” the self-titled showed Dickinson‘s penchant for helming a memorable hook, but Under a Spell shows Stubb also can change to a darker vibe if need be while still keeping tonally consistent with the fuzz of the record. “Under a Spell” and “Bullets Rain (From the Angry Sky)” both center around darker lyrical themes, but the strength of structure remains and, as ever, it’s the riffs driving the two cuts forward.

The organ on “Under a Spell” is an immediate identifier, but it’s not the only one, as the song starts off with a quiet, contemplative guitar line, complemented by Holland‘s fills on bass and West‘s ride cymbal before shifting, at 1:20, into its driving central progression — heavier, thicker, meaner. Dickinson‘s lyrics are a classic rocker’s tale of betrayal, the opening lines, “You and me, man/We are not the same,” being all the more resonant for their simplicity. Siepmann (who also recorded these tracks while Tony Reed mixed and mastered) is present throughout the bridges but takes a backseat to the guitar, bass and drums during the verses and chorus, returning for the instrumental push that ends the song after being introduced on guitar before the four-minute mark. Dickinson and Holland work especially well together in the solo section, and Holland‘s time in Trippy Wicked with West isn’t lost in their fluidity of groove in the final slowdown, Dickinson letting himself get lost in a fuzzy lead while the bass and drums slow to lock in a final groove. On the flip side, “Bullets Rain (From the Angry Sky) is both more immediate and longer, reaching to 6:37, which makes it longer than everything on the self-titled save for the jamming closer — the same could be said of “Under a Spell” at 5:19, but only by a few seconds.

Holland joins Dickinson in the chorus each time in a call and response, and there are several points where Stubb seem to all come together around the central idea, one hitting after the next particularly in the post-chorus second half solo section. There are Sabbathian moments on guitar, but despite its grim imagery, “Bullets Rain (From the Angry Sky)” is all movement and little doomed, even as the bass takes the fore past five minutes in and introduces the final section of the track, vocal hooting matching Dickinson‘s leads for a few measures before he launches into a run that would likely make that impossible to finish up. A long ringout and some fading noise takes care of the remaining 30 seconds or so, and Stubb come out of Under a Spell smiling through the dirt they’ve kicked up along the way. For anyone who heard the self-titled, these two tracks make a sound follow-up and something of a collector’s piece as well, but most importantly, they offer a shift in atmosphere even from what the twanging “Crying River” brought to the full-length’s otherwise forward fuzz, perhaps indicating that Stubb‘s next outing will be a much different affair. Whether or not that’s the case, I feel the same way about Under a Spell as I did the first time I saw the video: It’s more than strong enough to stand on its own. Very cool release, and one for which I’m absolutely not going to take any credit.

Stubb, Under a Spell 7″ (2013)

Stubb on Thee Facebooks

Stone Stallion Rex Records

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