Ones to Watch 2012 - #2 Spector

He’s dated Peaches Geldof, was previously in both Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man and Les Incompetents, wears the most ridiculous thick rimmed circular framed glasses and in an interview with the NME compared his new group to Spandau Ballet. He’s possibly going to be the geek fantasy of a few girls whilst the rest of his gang is going to get more than a few attentive looks as well. He’s also going to upset a few (or possibly a lot) of people with his rhetoric; a strange mix of self-knowing depreciation and hyperbole at the same time. Some folks are going to absolutely hate this music-combo.

His name is Fred MacPherson and his band is called Spector. They may have tagged themselves a commercial indie group, which to some minds may seem a contradiction in terms, but they look more like a bunch of preppy office types in their shirts and jackets. However, such attire gives them the appearance of a unit – a slick-but-shabby ready-to-storm-the-charts unit, or if not at least a unit which will fail gloriously with the best songs that Fred has written in his life.

Having first come to our attention on Breaking More Waves back in May the band have done all the right things to get noticed, cropping up on smaller stages at summer festivals, releasing a series of low key singles and playing their own small headlining tour. Now it relies on Spector having enough good songs, the right exposure and that indefinable quality that some call luck to capture the public heart. With a slot on Jools Holland's BBC television show this week, a second tour early next year and then support slots at Florence & The Machine's arena shows, they certainly are going to be getting that exposure. And based on the evidence of their three singles, there’s a half-chance they’ll be able to grab peoples ears; Never Fade Away is a hooky bombastic anthem, What You Wanted is like a suave but bullish half-Killers referencing bopper and Grey Shirt & Tie is a subtler crooner with some very 80’s synth sounds.

Spector - Never Fade Away