Emma Ents Featuring Spector

SADHBH O’SULLIVAN checks out Emma Ents and enjoys the uninspiring but perfectly charming Spector.

emma ents Music rina sawayama spector

Wednesday 2nd November, Emma Bar, £3

[rating: 3.5/5]

In the last months, Spector seem to have sprung from the indie radar’s periphery and straight into the general consciousness. They have a lot of hype to live up to. Recommended by NME and already veterans of the Reading and Leeds circuit, you wouldn’t expect them to do one performance in an underground bar of Emmanuel College. And yet, they did.

The venue itself only has a small performance space. This meant this was one of the last chances to see Spector in such an intimate setting. Consequently, there was a lot of expectation hanging in the air.

The opening support act, Sophie Jamieson, was largely left to be background music – a role that neither suited her nor her music. Vaguely reminiscent of Laura Marling, her beautiful voice felt too withdrawn which largely resulted in her being unfairly ignored. Though those who did listen largely enjoyed her performance, but such a voice was wasted to early on in the night.

By contrast, Rina Sawayama and FelixFaire carried with them voices too powerful to be so largely ignored. Creative covers, with the highlight a pseudo-folk cover of Beyonce, had the ability to fill the room, yet the fact the room itself was not filled meant their reception was not equal to the performance.

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Spector – What You Wanted

The audience were hoping for Spector to deliver a performance worthy of their hype. And to their credit, they gave a hell of a performance. They filled the space and then some. Their set was tight, they were charismatic, and their hits lived up to expectation. Most importantly though, they don’t bring anything new to the table musically, sounding reminiscent of every indie band played on XFM circa 2005-2009, they were fun and carried their songs with conviction and without a hitch.

The soaring What You Wanted proved to be the highlight, with the audience shouting back the catchy chorus with as much enthusiasm as front man Fred Macpherson was delivering it. Fred carried it, engaging with the audience with equal levels of self-aware arrogance and deprecation with his chat between each song. It’s just unfortunate that such interaction will probably be lost in the future, as they move into performance spaces that are bigger, and more suited for their sweeping, Killers-esque sound.

Despite their slightly unoriginal sound, Spector gave a great show and really played to the excellent reputation of Emma Ents.