The real beauty of Normal Town is The Dreaming Spires ability to transform the everyday into the ethereal, the ordinary into the exotic, the mundane into the melodic. As the title suggests, here, they explore the wider themes of the modern world through the lens of their hometown, Didcot. And if that place was once dubbed “the most normal town in England,” the music that they draw out of its streets and people, places, and attitudes is nothing short of extraordinary.
The title track opens the album up, sounding like a quintessentially English dream-state take on Gram Parsons or Ryan Adams’ debut, a lyrical mission statement as they wander the memory lanes of a town that has changed so much. It is music that serves as the perfect bellwether for modern Britain, a theme explored deftly and deeply on “Normalisation,” and its warnings against rose-tinted memories of the past as opposed to trying to build a better future.
“Faraway Blue Skies” explores the lure of greener grasses, a gently tumbling song shot through with drifting guitars and vintage sonics. The recent single “Stolen Car” is a sympathetic look at the traps and costs of the modern world, and “Real Life” ends by reminding us that time is pressing, life is short, and we should make the most of our days.
As an album, it brilliantly captures the same hallucinogenic take on urban decay that The Specials framed with their brilliant swansong “Ghost Town,” doing so in the same sort of language and wistful sentiments as Del Amitri’s “Nothing Ever Happens.” It is not just an album; it is the sort of social commentary that only comes from spending time away from a town you once knew so well, a creative sonic treatise on the changing face of Britain, and a gorgeous opera to the price of progress and the realities of the world that is being ushered in.
It’s been a decade since the last Dreaming Spires album, and although the various band members have all been off making great music with the likes of St Etienne, Danny & the Champions of the World and Peter Buck, it’s great to have them back making their own poised and poignant music.
