Spidergawd, III: Future Impatient
Over the course of their now-three full-lengths, Norwegian heavy rockers Spidergawd have established a pervasive sense of duality. Beginning with their self-titled debut (review here) in 2014, the Trondheim four-piece have presented material that’s progressive and thoughtful, and yet tossed off quickly by the band in almost manic fashion as they move forward to the next thing. That debut? Recorded live at the band’s fifth rehearsal, reportedly. The follow-up, Spidergawd II (review here), arrived correspondingly early in 2015 and fleshed out the already-cohesive approach. Highlighted by flourishes of psychedelia while maintaining the core of high-level songcraft the first record established, it seemed even more intentional in its construction. Spidergawd III — or just III, depending on how you want to read it — is no less a step forward and it arrives topped with a similar-style of artwork through the same labels, Stickman Records and Crispin Glover Records, with eight tracks that relentlessly move Spidergawd ahead of where they were sound-wise while also providing a high-quality listening experience.
That’s where the duality comes in. Spidergawd began at a sprint, and they haven’t slowed since, but their output, while often upbeat, never sounds hurried in the making or half-assed in its production or arrangement. One could chalk that up to pedigree if so inclined. The band, as noted many times, has ties to long-running Norwegian progressives Motorpsycho in bassist/engineer Bent Sæther and drummer Kenneth Kapstad, saxophonist Rolf Martin Snustad featured in ska outfit Hopalong Knut and guitarist/vocalist Per Borten — who is a strong frontman presence throughout all three Spidergawd offerings to-date, the newest of them most of all — has worked in a host of songwriting contexts while also singing in bands like Cadillac and New Violators. I’d argue, however, that while members’ individual contributions to other groups might have been a factor in providing a clear look at what they wanted to do initially, with the exception of Sæther and Kapstad, who work together directly in another band’s rhythm section, Spidergawd have developed their own dynamic over these albums and the supporting tours, and Spidergawd III provides the most current glimpse of their progression.
Like its two predecessors, it is classic-LP short — 36 minutes — and completely lacking in pretense as though Spidergawd don’t have time to stop and think about what they’ve accomplished in the last three years or this time around particularly, they’re too busy running off to the next thing. And with their touring schedule, that may well be true, but it ultimately doesn’t take away from the impact this record in tracks like “The Funeral,” or the off-and-running immediate momentum provided by opener “No Man’s Land,” which dispenses with any opening theatrics and gets right to business with a quick hi-hat and a flown-in-from-the-danger-zone solo — again, working quick, efficiently, but not sounding rushed — on the way to “El Corazon del Sol,” which just might be the hook on which the rest of the album is anchored.
It arrives delivered in English — the line is, “In you I see the heart of the sun” — and with due brightness atop a heavy low end with standout sax from Snustad at the finish that leads to the pick-up-and-go start of “The Best Kept Secrets,” another quick thrust that you almost have to put on repeat to properly appreciate it’s there so quickly and then gone. That’s harder to do on the vinyl, obviously, but if the point hasn’t gotten across yet, one of the defining characteristics of Spidergawd III is the unflinching, lightning-crisp forward propulsion across its component tracks and how comfortable the band seem working at this pace. Not that they’re playing ridiculously fast, but their execution of this material is so tight and so void of excess that it seems to be over even as it’s started.
Another defining aspect of Spidergawd III, though, is the clarity and fullness of its production. That’s been the modus for the band all along, but on a standout like side A finale “The Funeral” — a rival chorus for “El Corazon del Sol” — it’s especially apparent. Second in length only to closer “Lighthouse Part 3” at 5:41, it cuts a broader spectrum instrumentally than, say, “Best Kept Secrets” or “Picture Perfect Package,” which follows and leads off side B, but is distinguished further through the impact of its tones and depth of its mix, Borten‘s vocals buried under sax and guitar in the last verse after being so forward in delivering the layered hook. Like “No Man’s Land” at the start, “Picture Perfect Package” is all stripped-down straightforward groove, classic in its construction but rife with fresh energy and a push that leads into the three-part closer, “Lighthouse,” split up over separate tracks on the CD/digital version but presented fluidly on the vinyl. “Lighthouse Part 1” begins with a bassline from Sæther and shifts in good time to a boogie that holds firm throughout, offset but not contradicted by a winding chorus, and finishes with a sustained line of sax, semi-mirroring “El Corazon del Sol,” but bleeding directly into the slower (!) unfolding of “Lighthouse Part 2,” an instrumental and really, an interlude, that nonetheless features some choice interaction between Borten and Snustad in its two and a half minutes, finishing cold as the start of “Lighthouse Part 3” takes over on the next beat.
A near-minute of intro feels like a luxury, but it’s tension building toward a release in the chorus and subsequent space-out, airier, reverb-soaked guitar leading the way as Spidergawd purposefully break the rules they’ve so well enacted across the span of the tracks preceding. After the all-out charge of the bulk of Spidergawd III, a bit of indulgence makes a classy finish, but even in the back half of “Lighthouse Part 3,” they don’t overdo it. The album ends on a long fade with the guitar at the head of an improvised-sounding section that comes apart as it goes. One can’t help but wonder how long Spidergawd will be able to or will be interested in keeping up their current relentless pace of releases, and the fact that III has already been issued as part of a first-three-records box set makes it seem all the more like the finishing installment of a trilogy, but whether or not they return with another full-length in 2017 or sometime thereafter, Spidergawd have become a considerable force heralding the righteousness in straightforward but thoughtful heavy rock and roll. They continue to make complex ideas sound easy, and they continue to grow as players and as a band. If there’s more one could ask of Spidergawd III than it delivers, I don’t know what it would be.
