Springtime is the eponymous debut album from Australian supergroup Springtime, consisting of Gareth Liddiard, Chris Abrahams and Jim White. Recorded over 15 days at Liddiard's home studio in Nagambie, the largely-improvised album features lyrics from his uncle Ian Duhig, in addition to a Will Oldham cover and a reworking of a track by The Drones. It was released in Australia through TFS Records and in the US through Joyful Noise Recordings to largely positive reviews.
At the 2022 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album.
Background
Springtime was conceived in early 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown in Australia, shortly after Liddiard had finished recording Tropical Fuck Storm's third album Deep States. Liddiard recalled that at the time both he and White - who was "stuck" in Australia after having returned from Brooklyn for a Xylouris White tour due to "some family shit" - "were both in the same boat slowly going broke." In February, the duo performed a few shows in Melbourne which were billed as solo Liddiard shows, after which Liddiard had the "idea" to add Abrahams (with whom he had previously performed in The Triffids' 2008 reunion shows), thus making them a trio.
The then-unnamed trio proceeded to perform a number of sold-out shows in early May, including one at the Brunswick Ballroom. The name "Springtime" was chosen by White's "best friend" Guy Picciotto of Fugazi off of a list of possible names compiled by the members "in a rush". On May 26, the group released a live rendition of the Drones song "Penumbra" recorded at the aforementioned Brunswick Ballroom performance and announced that they would release a full-length album late that year.
Recording
Springtime was recorded in Liddiard's home studio in Nagambie, titled Dodgy Bros Studios in the liner notes. The recording of the album, according to Liddiard and White, involved a significant amount of musical improvisation and was completed in just 15 days with few overdubs. Liddiard described the compositional process of the songs and the reasoning behind it as follows:I find it easier to improvise than by normal shit, and I think the guys would agree, it's just easier to come up with stuff. You don't have the pressure of remembering what you’re meant to be doing and all that. So yeah, it's fun and it's something to come up with stuff. It's quicker than with TFS. You know, we just, I just say, well, “I've got a few words”, and then Chris will go “let’s try these chords”. And we'll play it three times. And there it is. We've got a song. It's really, really easy.Two of the album's songs feature lyrics from Liddiard's uncle, acclaimed poet Ian Duhig, whom he described as "one of the only capital G geniuses I’ve met." His help was sought due to the fact that Liddiard "didn’t have a huge amount of lyrics in the spare parts department" having recently finished recording Deep States: "So I thought, ‘Fuck, what am I gonna do? Oh yeah, my uncle’. So I just asked him if he’s got anything that would work lyrically." Abrahams plays a 400kg Steinway & Sons grand piano worth $100,000 on the album that the trio had "scored" off of a rich neighbour of theirs who needed a place to store it whilst shifting house.
Content
Mojo's Martin Aston notes that Springtime has "two approaches": one of which is "more methodical" as exemplified by tracks such as "Will to Power" and the other of which is "rooted in improv". Sharon O'Connell of Uncut writes that the album's tracks are shaped by the "[c]ircumstantial urgency" of its recording, finding that they combine art rock, free improvisation, "effects and electronic noise, with deep space and unorthodox mixing a feature (at times, it sounds like White’s brush work is coming from half a mile away)." Mosi Reeves of The Wire described the music as "free, but never carefree, full of spontaneity, acidity and momentum, sputtering in a thousand different, noisy directions at once." Conversely, Michael Toland of The Big Takeover concluded that the results sound "closer to" Liddiard's previous band The Drones "than any of the principals’ other bands." According to the press release written by David Yow of The Jesus Lizard-fame, the album "is so full of strange wanderings that are broken and piled up on themselves that the heads have no idea where their tails are, [...] These three gentlemen work, play and improvise together in an emotionally volatile universe. You could call it ‘jazz’, but that word is way too jazzy for what Springtime creates."