Spiral Stairs 'The Real Feel' (Domino) Released 19/10/09

For those of a certain age and disposition Scott Kannberg won’t need much of an introduction, but for those left scratching their heads, it was he alongside Stephen Malkmus who formed the highly influential Pavement.

Post-pavement success has been far kinder to Malkmus with the Jicks than it has been to Kannberg’s Preston School Of Industry and although his first solo outing on Domino as Spiral Stairs wont do much to console still grieving Pavement fans a decade on, ‘The Real Feel’, a genuine spat of angry love perfected through a natural rawness of blues, rock and country, should in part redress the balance.

A polished but not overly produced short sweet offering of nine tracks and two fillers, the easy fit riffs are a constant throughout, the basic canvas allowing for constant changes in tempo alongside lyrics that switch between the sorrowful and the vociferous. It doesn’t take a genius to smell out the three ‘L’s’ of lament, love and loss, but Kannberg’s instrumental slight of hand which manipulates ‘Call The Ceasefire’, ‘A Mighty Mighty Fall’ and ‘Wharf Hand Blues’ is a deft and illusionary compliment to the conflicting emotionally driven lyricism.

When anger and regret butt heads some middle ground is left exposed, in part to fill in the gaps between two complementary extremes of emotion the warmth of which is provided through the organ and strings of ‘Cold Change’ and ‘Maltese T’. Polished and highly personal it might be but there’s a rough edged sense of the unfinished lurking in many tracks, the honesty of his anti balladry punctuated by self incitement and short stab lyrics as ‘Subiaco Shuffle’ and ‘Stolen Pills’ successfully spit, fight, mosh and pogo for an angry and intense grab of narrative inhabiting attention.

Kannberg’s latest offering will be of nothing more than a passing interest to some but for those of a certain age, disposition and with an eye on 2010 Pavement reunion tour tickets ‘The Real Feel’ will no doubt do much to increase the anticipation.