What’s to like?
A relaxing, groove-filled trip over six impressively crafted tracks that will appeal to fans of Ozric Tentacles and Hawkwind.
The low down
Head Spin is an instrumental project written and performed by Andrew Scoffin, producing the kind of free-flight space race music that sits comfortably alongside bands such as Ozric Tentacles, but with a harder edge and deeper grooves. Perhaps a little less blissed out, and more driven than the Ozrics.
Andrew kindly shared his previous album Escape Velocity with me a couple of years ago, and as you can see from my review (here), I really enjoyed the trip. So here we are two years on and Andrew has now released a follow-up titled Refractor, and once again he has shared a copy for my thoughts. (And once again I have to rise to the challenge of describing an album of instrumental music without devolving to the usual clichéd phrases!)
Happily, Refractor has been another pleasure to sit down with, slipping the headphones on and allowing the music to entice me away from worldly worries over the course of six tracks running for 50 minutes. As with the previous album, the audio mixing is impressive on the headphones; not too loud, but plenty of space to appreciate the dynamics of every twist and turn, and a hefty dose of sub-bass to drive the heavier moments along.
It’s always difficult to compare instrumental albums, but I’d say on this one the musical arrangements are slightly tighter, perhaps as Andrew has grown in experience along the way. The music’s still just as unpredictable and trippy, but it feels like each song is a little more self-contained rather than drifting off and unsure where to end, and it sounds like there may be a few new guitar sounds added to the mix, as the music sounds a little more expansive this time around.
The one thing that struck me across the six tracks was how challenging it must be to come up with the initial ideas and then try to find a way to bring them all together, layering the different instruments and producing something that ends up sounding exciting and coherent, rather than taking the listener up an indulgent cul-de-sac.
Andrew plays all the instruments, and although the guitar seems to be his main focus, his work on the synths and drum programming is solid and helps lay the groundwork to free him up to fashion the different guitar solos and pedal effects that characterise Head Spin’s music. It’s sometimes all too easy to take this style of music for granted, but I found that a close listen helped me appreciate the time and effort it must have taken to piece this all together.
Andrew also moonlights in a Grateful Dead tribute band, so the chops needed to balance structure and improvisation in the Dead’s material will have contributed to the experience and discipline needed to produce an album like Refractor. The guitar playing is assured and imaginative, and although I’m not a player myself, listening to these six tracks I can tell that this is a guy who knows his way around a guitar neck.
It all makes for a very enjoyable listening experience, especially if you’re into this kind of space-groove type ambience with lots of highs and lows, and the first five tracks have a nice sequencing and flow. However, the closing track Half Remembered is something slightly different, going for a slower, more measured tempo and is perhaps more reminiscent of Hawkwind, not just in its time-signature but also the choice of synth patterns. And while the other songs have ebbs and flows, this one builds up slowly towards a dramatic and satisfying ending. If this is the future direction of Head Spin music, it’s very promising, and will help strengthen its identity as something unique. Not an easy achievement with instrumental music.
Given Head Spin’s relatively low profile beyond Bandcamp and those in the know, it would be good to see this album reach a wider audience, and certainly fans of the Ozrics, Hawkwind or other space-rock musicians will find a lot to enjoy with Refractor. Roll on album number three!
You can sample and purchase Refractor from Bandcamp here:
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