SPIRAL STAIRS – THE REAL FEEL

Spiral Stairs, also known as Scott Kanneburg, came into renown as the ‘other’ guitarist and songwriter in the 90’s indie rock combo Pavement. Since their breakup (now reformed and touring!), he’s released a slow stream of material with his band Preston School of Industry, but no album as compelling as The Real Feel, his first solo offering. There’s a fair amount of country influence here – slide guitars and honky pianos abound _ but the predominant mood is a reserved slacker rock that hits all the right buttons. Kanneburg is a fan on the guitar solo, and the whole-band jam, but rather than descending in to self-indulgence, The Real Feel showcases grooves and stripped-back riffs: singles Maltese T and Cold Change are songs you could almost dance to, despite being guitar-driven pop songs. And it is with its songs that this album makes its mark, despite the fact that Kanneburg can’t really sing. Rather, it’s that he’s a craftsman of abstract, sad lyrics, and delivers his lines with a kind of pleasurable punk sprezzatura; where his lyric stylings and understated ax-work come together, the result is knockout-moody refrains, like Wharf Hand Blues and Call the Ceasefire. A beautiful debut solo album from one of indie rock’s unsung heroes.

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