REVIEW: ‘Let ‘Em Talk’ by Spook Muziek
So Adam Follett's Spook Muziek is back with a brand new single, which is great news for anyone with ears. So they say, you can't really go wrong with a synth - a golden rule of songwriting which many artists regrettably seem to overlook. Not Spook, however. On 'Let 'em Talk', he's dialled his dance-punk partialities right up to craft a simple-yet-irresistible, fuck-the-cynics banger. It's just a shame he went and overlooked the other golden rule: actually including a chorus. But hey, let 'em (/me) talk.
Yep, narratively speaking we're lured into a tale about a fresh romance looked upon by outsiders with scepticism - "Lisa saw us kissing on a row boat on the lake, let 'em talk. She says we have no spark and it comes across as fake, let 'em talk". Questions abound. Who's Lisa? What's her problem? Is she right? Perhaps Follett relishes the gossip his courtship is generating. Or perhaps his vision is tunnelled such that nothing on the peripheries could possibly matter one bit. But the rug is pulled with the arrival of the song's outro - "Lisa saw us throwing a dead body in the lake, let 'em talk". The sinister turn leads us to view the story in an entirely new light. Lisa's suspicions were clearly on the mark all along. But does the narrator know that a romance built on pretence isn't really comparable to trying to get away with murder? And is he really that unfazed that his felony was witnessed? It's a fun, entertaining little tale and the bottom line seems to be that Spook Muziek is gonna continue to be unabashedly Spook Muziek - even if it means contravening various public laws - and nowt anybody says is going to impede that.
On one hand it could be said to be highly impressive that one could write a song without a distinct chorus and a critic would still come back calling it catchy. On another, it could perhaps more easily be called a missed opportunity.
Not that this song has no hook at all. Quite the contrary actually. There are at least three different moreishly delicious synth licks repeating throughout, and there is a very distinct refrain in that the track follows a formula of 'line-about-gossip-worthy-subject-matter - "let 'em talk!" - [repeat...]'. It's all fun, energetic and musically itch-scratchy enough to not actually be deemed formulaic in a negative way, but still the formula there be. And this formula is most certainly just a verse, and so a chorus there (doesn't) be.
Bear with me on this slightly rogue comparison, but Olivia Rodrigo just released her new single 'The Cure', which opens with a verse which includes its own hook (something about an antidote), then breaks into a naturally catchier chorus, before returning to the verse, before hitting us with an alternative chorus (something about unravelling). The song then goes on to follow a 'chorus - other chorus - bridge (also very catchy with a brand new hook) - chorus' structure. What I'm trying to say is that song doesn't just rest on its 'oh we wrote a catchy verse' laurels, no, it goes all out to smack you left right and centre with hooks fooking galore. Perfect pop-fodder. And yeah, while 'Let 'em Talk' isn't necessarily aiming for any such appeal, Follett could perhaps have done with taking the tiniest of leaves out of the Rodrigo-Nigro songbook. Just chuck another catchy chorus on top of your already very catchy verse, and you've got yourself some genuine hit material.
But, to boomerang back to my earlier comments, maybe it's 'Let 'em Talk''s simplicity which catalyses its irresistibility. There's a banging synth bassline, a very danceable groove and a genuinely funny narrative delivered with oomph. That is basically it, but maybe that is all you need. If you're able to pen a chorusless song which your listeners still come away from internally chanting the refrain of, then surely you're doing something right. Surely? But surely, surely, throwing in another hook is only going to improve things. I know they say less is more, but I don't know, sometimes I think maybe more is more. Slight redemption comes in the form of an instrumental bridge donned with yet another synth arpeggiating itself into sublimity; it's a welcome sonic switch-up before the song's sinister plot twist, but I'm still left itching for a fresh earworm of a vocal melody at this point in the song.
Anyway, to say whether we should be calling this an example of genius in simplicity or an example of a glaring missed opportunity is, I guess, one you'll have to make your own mind up on after giving it a listen for yourself. It feels like I've written a rather scathing review here, which was not at all the plan as I actually enjoyed the song quite a bit. I like that riff of a bassline traversing the entire track, I like the stylish, silky work on the production end of things, I really like the Korg chords bringing that early 90s rave smoke. Yeah, there are definitely enough thrills and trills to keep you entertained across this song, but, like, what if there was more?!
Anyhow, despite being left with a half-measure of underwhelm by the squandered potential that is the gaping gap where a chorus ought to have been, I still can't help but admire the energy, humour and authenticity Spook Muziek continues to bring to the Sheffield punk scene. And, besides, he's hardly going to care one bit about what I, a commentator/critic/clown (or anyone else for that matter), have to say about this particular song. That's sort of the whole point. Isaac's left wondering 'where the hell's the chorus', let 'em talk. How smartly ridicule-repellent, how punk, how Spook.
Words: Isaac French
