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"Bad Penny" is the Richard Formby-produced debut album from Spectrals aka 21 year old Louis Jones. Mixing ingredients of pop, soul, doo wop, and a  garage rock ballad, it sounds vintage but current, while the Yorkshire lilt in his voice (a result of his hometown, Heckmondwike) places him firmly in the UK, rather than Detroit. Inspired by the music he grew up listening to as a child, from the Rolling Stones (the only CD's his mum ever has in her car) to The Style Council, Elvis Costello and The Ronettes (artists he regularly shares on mix tapes) it's all "just about love really."

Spectrals has always been a small operation. Now in its third year of existence, Louis started by recording in a friend's knocked-together studio and posting the songs on MySpace. Despite originally only being for his closest friends, his Myspace soon attracted the attention of discerning labels all over the world: from Brooklyn label Captured Tracks (Dum Dum Girls, Wild Nothing) to Brighton's Sex Is Disgusting (Mazes, Human Hair) to Slumberland (we released his excellent "7th Date" single last year) to Underground Peoples, where he eventually released last year's "Extended Play."

"Get A Grip" is the first single from "Bad Penny," and an excellent slice of swinging, soulful pop it is. Says Louis: "I thought I'd try and do more upbeat, "slick" material, like a lot of the 70's soul I'm into, just to see if I could. I did it quite a lot on "Bad Penny." "Get A Grip" is that, but in the lyrics, I'm just going on at myself. I make myself miserable and I can't help it, all my songs are about a girl but I can't whinge about her and not point the finger closer to home." From the shining guitar chords to the lazy melody, this is simply a perfectly-crafted tune and a superb taster for the deep, immaculately-conceived and executed album this is "Bad Penny."

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Link Wray

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