Spectator Share ‘Venus’ Video and New Double Single ‘Venus + Jupiter’
Spectator have been quiet on record for a while. The St. Louis husband-and-wife duo of Megan Rooney and Jeffrey Albert last released an album in 2019, and ‘Venus + Jupiter’ is their first new music since then.
Both songs grew out of family life. ‘Venus’ began as a quiet song Rooney and Albert played for their daughter when she was a baby. Old photographs, family keepsakes and half-remembered moments gradually found their way into the song. The video picks up on some of those memories too, without laying them on too thick. Rooney’s voice stays right at the centre, with the rest of the arrangement kept fairly light.
The second track, ‘Jupiter’, was written after the birth of their son in early 2020, at the point when the outside world was suddenly shutting down.
Rooney and Albert have been making music together since 2006. Spectator released the ‘In the Brick’ EP in 2012, followed by ‘The Last Exchange’ in 2015 and ‘Charlie, Baby’ four years later. They played regularly around St. Louis for years, although these days most of their musical life happens in the studio.
Recording has to fit around family life now, and they are in no particular hurry.
“We LOVE recording,” they say. “It’s our favorite thing. If we could be full-time musicians in the studio, we’d do it in a heartbeat. We love to tinker and come up with sound ideas.”
The double single was produced by Kevin Bachmann, with Jason McEntire recording and engineering at Sawhorse Studios. David Beeman mixed the tracks at Native Sound, while Daniel Mehrmann mastered them at Midtown Sound House. Sam Golden contributed strings, with arrangements by Rooney and Golden. Also appearing are Kevin Bowers on drums and percussion, Bachmann on bass, guitar, synth and keys, Rooney on vocals and keys, and Albert on guitar and vocals.
It has been seven years since ‘Charlie, Baby’, but ‘Venus + Jupiter’ does not make a great ceremony out of the return. They simply sound pleased to be recording again.
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