# SPYGENIUS Announce ‘Jobbernowl’ from Big Stir Records

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/spygenius-announce-jobbernowl-from-big-stir-records/
- Published: 2022-05-27T12:30:00-05:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

**BIG STIR RECORDS **and **SPYGENIUS** are delighted to announce the June 24 release
of **_JOBBERNOWL_** – a brand new album from the celebrated Canterbury, England 
masters of literate psych-inflected pop rock – on CD and all digital platforms. 
The record featuring 11 new originals including the lead single/focus track “Son
Of The Morning, Go Man Go!” is up for pre-order at [www.bigstirrecords.com](https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=n4-2BFS6ihWTIbrglZSRCLUdCctLWe5GlloZggC2-2BJ3RVVaemgKcp98hCocM-2FnMveKNaFOR1f1E6UcIcFlfHl9L4v-2BI-2FvEnUknKdpXpBAO8E7pZsxYoEhJWUHK8khl-2Fp212-2BQPpn0Rc6tLWmF2ULoiP8CJ-2BHdsDBRC4-2Fw7ClvfYZ8-3DrBxV_gjUN5q0oY-2Fa9pVSh-2F3ttEV36g8zdE-2BC7uOgdgzyXpkp1UsIlWUxX6pNV4tKRzAaqyAnrJf-2F4xdeYLQuUFzCZLduBuWOCrYuX7btAawny4EjuX57vPl-2Fbc8ER-2FCx6pBlUlhVlXJ240RnW47YfXmY3e5dT-2BLRSl0W842on5ujWOBtCeXPVkKrmlnFtfwoZeCEoXKnkxV9D0ilMYQcps5nNU-2Fpt-2Bw0kzX7ZHoGkXNLo9IWH3KnWlk8yRDm4Qu917ZFmOtgTT5d08q5qBnrO9tCrk9yCGeD08AqFt1vk-2BHwD3K5yK1MfT0rYjb63Vs2T5MWeO9Zu5ulMMwAUUW3ORBaEMA-3D-3D)
now, and will be on record store shelves and streaming worldwide on the street date.
The band’s seventh album, **_JOBBERNOWL_** follows the acclaimed and ambitious 2020
double LP **_MAN ON THE SEA_** and 2021 tribute collection **_SPYGENIUS BLOW THEIR
COVERS_**, fusing the emotive heft of the former with the rollicking energy of the
latter into a visceral but sophisticated set, framed by the combination of wit, 
hooks and harmony that define **SPYGENIUS**.

![](https://i0.wp.com/d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/284050/17dee9d3f882b4ab1d5d21eec4f59b3cd4f1850b/
original/orchard-spygenius-jobbernowl.jpg/%21%21/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%
3D%3D/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ%3D%3D.jpg?w=1290&ssl=1)

“It’s mostly about bereavement, you know. That and epistemology,” says singer, guitarist
and chief songwriter **PETER WATTS**. But if that suggests that **_JOBBERNOWL_**
is a continuation of the absorbing moodiness of **_Man On The Sea_**, it takes little
more than hitting “play” to reveal that this album is involving in a very different
way. The punning title of lead track “I Dig Your Your New Robes, Pierre!” gives 
the game away, and the groove that comes blasting out of the speakers – anchored
by a tasty retro organ groove from keyboard player **MATT BYRNE** and propelled 
forward by the rhythm section of drummer **ALAN CANNINGS** and bassist **RUTH ROGERS**–
is positively ebullient and even danceable. The surreally bluesy rocker “Sky Pie,
Century 21” follows and keeps feet moving even as **Watts** unspools what must be
the most erudite set of lyrics ever to start with the words “Now daddio, you gotta
listen!” **SPYGENIUS** may be grappling with the tough stuff, but they’re here to
rock, not mope, and the tension kicks the record into high gear from the get-go.

There’s a sense that the band had hoped to continue the loose and (for lack of a
better word) “fun” vibe of the covers album, but the tenor of the COVID-era times
and a number of deep personal losses wouldn’t allow it. Instead they weave the approaches
of the previous two records together and manage the staggeringly cathartic feat 
of being playful in confronting grief and befuddling trying times. You can hear 
the album’s exhilarating collision between the introspective and the effervescent
captured in full on the single “Son Of The Morning, Go Man Go!” It hums with touches
of the ’80s college rock sounds and vintage ’60s psych alike, alternately breezy
and sinister 12-string jangle and pristine harmonies, and an effortless progression
from its beautifully airy opening to darker, urgently galloping passages and an 
anthemic climax worthy of The Who. And yet it flows, its radio-ready sheen and supple
melodies belying its darker undercurrents. That’s **_JOBBERNOWL_** in a nutshell,
to the extent that the record’s carefully orchestrated contradictions can be contained.

**Spygenius** may bristle at being called “clever,” but one need only scan the song
titles here to confirm that their reputation for reveling in the sheer joy of language
is in full bloom. Beyond “Pierre!” wordplay abounds on the liltingly sly political
satire “Mandy Rice-Davies Applies,” “The Marvellous, Mendacious Time Machine” (a
_Nuggets_-evoking swirl that’s at once retro and anti-nostalgia) and the closing,
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band-inspired “Foucault Swings Like A Pendulum Do”. Each drips
with droll and very British wit. This is truly a record which, while teasing the
ears with instantly memorable hooks, will send listeners to the lyric sheet and **
Watts**‘ song notes to make sure the’ve heard what they thought they heard… only
to discover even more buried references, linguistic gymnastics, and rewarding conceptual
easter eggs. Humor is the weapon of choice in combatting heartbreak here, and **
_Jobbernowl_** is as genuinely funny as it is sonically enthralling.

There is no mistaking the fact that the band is tackling the macro- and microcosmic
cataclysms of the past two years head-on – the brooding “2020 Revision” is but the
most explicit expression of loss and befuddlement. But there’s glee in the way **
Spygenius** convert it all into song, and **Watts** goes so far as to drop the exhortation“
Hark, hark let’s have a lark!” into the _Revolver_-meets-The Velvets rumination “
Metamorphosis” amongst near-apocalyptic imagery of insect overlords, virgin vermin
and behemoth butterflies. There’s room along the way for “Screwy” – a bouncy mashup
between Motown, Kirsty MacColl and Ringo Starr written and sung by bassist **Rogers**–
and the gorgeous 6/8 sway of the culturally contemplative “All That Is Solid Melts
Into Air”. The themes come together in the way the penultimate track (the stately,
mournful “Of Narcissus”, one of several meditations on mortality occasioned by the
sudden passing of a dear friend of the band) dovetails into the unapologetic goofiness
of the closer. “It’s also about overcoming, about carrying what you can of those
you’ve lost with you,” says **Watts**. “And about how if darkness is the shore of
life, then silence is the shore of music, of human music, the music you must dance
to when your limbs are numb and twisted with grief.” He’s speaking of one track,
but it may sum up all of **_JOBBERNOWL_**. Visually bedecked as always in the distinctive
design work of the inimitable and enigmatic **CHAMPNISS**, the latest dispatch from**
SPYGENIUS** may be a more beautiful commentary on the state of the world today than
that world deserves. But it’s also a source of solace, a thrilling ride, and another
jewel in the crown of Canterbury’s kings (and queen) of musical mayhem. **Big Stir**
is honored to bring it to you.

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