Spencer McGarry Season

Spencer McGarry Season is the musical project of songwriter and composer Spencer McGarry, based in Cardiff, United Kingdom and active since 2005. It begins after the end of his previous group, The Room Orchestra, when he starts writing a large batch of songs and plans a sequence of six albums, each intended to have a different style, under the title Episodes 1-6.

Early line-up and first releases

The project starts as a three-piece rock group with McGarry on guitar and vocals, Stephen Black, also known as Sweet Baboo, on bass, and Avvon Chambers on drums. The trio self-releases its first single, Leader Of The Chain Gang, in 2006. Another single, A Title Sparks Would Have Used, follows in 2007 and is the first release on Businessman Records, a label McGarry and Black form with friends to support Cardiff bands that they feel deserve wider attention.

Episode 1

After several years of performing the material for Episode 1, the project appears at the 2006 Electric Proms and the 2007 Great Escape festival in Brighton. A download-only single, A Paler Shade Of Wit, comes before the self-produced debut album Episode 1, which is released in 2009. That record presents the group's early three-piece sound and draws on influences including the Jam, the Kinks and Talking Heads.

Episode 2 and later recording

Work then begins on the songs for Episode 2. For this recording, McGarry expands the line-up with guests from The Hot Puppies, Barefoot Dance Of The Sea and Cardiff New Music Collective, among others. The album is produced by Charlie Francis, whose credits include High Llamas and R.E.M., and it uses strings, brass, woodwind, percussion and extra vocals. Its references range from Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gershwin and Irving Berlin to baroque pop figures such as Brian Wilson, Sufjan Stevens and The Beatles, alongside modern minimalist composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. The record also includes faux-operatic sections, jazz passages, camp elements and noise, ending with a 20-minute medley. It is premiered in a full recital at Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre in 2010.