Review: SPR! - Mental Health

This is another of those most welcome 'bolt from the blue' records....the sort that makes you go 'woah!' when you listen for the first time....there's been a few of them this year. This time around it's courtesy of SPR! whose 'Mental Health' album is out on Höga Nord, a label that is fast making a (very good) name for itself. I know scant little about SPR! themselves aside from the fact they are a Gothenburg-based duo - Albert Sjöstam and Christoffer Fransson - and that they have made a highly inventive album full of electronic trickery infused with the spirit of seventies Berlin.

Opener 'Cha Cha Cha' starts things with a flurry of guitar, beats and synths and the tempo doesn't ease an inch throughout. Coming off like a cross between Amphetamine Reptile noise and skewed psytrance with some extra bluster and blow for added effect, it is track that doesn't hold any prisoners and sets out the band's stall. 'Second Hand Smoke' begins with an heartbeat rhythm before an oscillating drone stamps itself on proceedings. The track eventually settles down into entrancing mix of kraut motorik rhythms and wavering electronica. When the treated vocals hit, things take a distinct Cabaret Voltaire vibe - the same menacing electronic voices as heard on, say, 'Nag Nag Nag'. It all comes together to become a monster of a track.....well into my own top ten of tracks of this year...phenomenal stuff. 'Twa Lif' opens with a machine gun-like attack of synths with more see-saw drones over which are laid aggressive vocals that sound very post-punk while 'Psygnosis' is a relatively jaunty number with more motorik rhythms and upbeat synths The track gets really interesting when the 'retro' keyboards are introduced, giving a very 'Berlin' feel to proceedings, complemented beautifully with the similar retro sounding vocals. Things don't quite topple over into hauntology territory but it is obvious that the band are in thrall to the late seventies / early eighties electronica pioneers like the aforementioned Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads or even The Legendary Pink Dots. 'Dymaxion Music' has a definite industrial feel about it, from the thudding beat to the echo treated vocals and the EBM-like beats. Halfway through things break down only to build up again with the same tribalistic drums, harsh vocals and industrial electronica. 'Turn Your Illness Into A Weapon' sees things turned down a notch with a gentle introduction with some Vangelis like swirls and Tangerine Dream washes of synths...but blink and you've missed it. The album is closed by 'Dope Rider' and a return to the kraut inflected madness of 'Second Hand Smoke'....some wonderful 'Berlin' synths over a motorik beat and some abstract electronica...it has a real seventies feel about it but with a very contemporary cutting edge....great stuff!

'Mental Health' is an essential album for anyone who professes a love for electronic music or anything with a hint of the kosmische about it. Sjöstam and Fransson are clever dudes...they have taken touch points from many different eras of electronica and mixed them together to make a coherent and highly enjoyable album. They are guys who obviously know their music and that shines through in the creative structure of the album. Brilliant stuff! 'Mental Health' is available from the Höga Nord website here and comes in a groovy white vinyl.