{"product_id":"spencer-cullum-coin-collection-2","title":"Spencer Cullum Coin Collection 2","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpencer Cullum\u003c\/strong\u003e’s \u003cem\u003eCoin Collection 2\u003c\/em\u003e sees the Nashville-based musician step further from the pedal steel and towards center stage. Released on the evergreen Full Time Hobby label, this new collection of tracks is a kaleidoscopic collection of folk, jazz, and pop, cut through with immaculately-rendered songwriting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRomford to Nashville is hardly the most well-trodden of paths, but for \u003cstrong\u003eSpencer Cullum\u003c\/strong\u003e it was a way of getting to the essential heart of pedal steel, what was then and remains to this day his musical raison d'être. Growing up in the large East London town brought him early exposure to classic pub rock by way of his father such as Dr. Feelgood and Thin Lizzy, and farther-flung music by way of his mother, such as Talking Heads and Lou Reed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, it was learning pedal steel from legendary English player B. J. Cole that set him on the path he still walks today. After touring with Nashville-based groups and hearing tales of “seasoned Nashville steel players”, the young musician upped sticks and found a “nice little crowd of weirdos” in his chosen city.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e has always maintained a somewhat silent presence - even now saying “I still want to hide behind my pedal steel in fear” - but 2020 saw him release his debut solo effort, \u003cem\u003eSpencer Cullum’s Coin Collection\u003c\/em\u003e. Despite his project with Jeremy Fetzer, Steelism, showing off more of his talents, never before had he felt the limelight so firmly on him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough \u003cem\u003e…Coin Collection\u003c\/em\u003e’s modus operandi was “a very quintessential English folk record, but with really good Nashville players”, \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e says of \u003cem\u003e…Coin Collection 2\u003c\/em\u003e that “I wanted to be different. I wanted to try and pull away from wearing my influences on my sleeve… I was trying to pick out ideas that were new to me. You can never escape your musical influences but I wanted them to be more hidden sub-consciously than upfront.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThough you can pick out the odd similarity to other things here and there - \u003cem\u003eThe Beach Boys\u003c\/em\u003e’ \u003cem\u003eFriends\u003c\/em\u003e LP, perhaps, or \u003cem\u003eThe Incredible String Band\u003c\/em\u003e, or \u003cem\u003eJoni Mitchell\u003c\/em\u003e - the thing is decidedly \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e’s own. What’s also reassuring is that there hasn’t been some giant sonic leap from \u003cem\u003e…Coin Collection\u003c\/em\u003e, rather that the beautifully sun-kissed, English country garden, bees-buzzing-round-lager atmosphere has remained, but complicated, weirded, deepened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMuch in the same way that the album doesn’t wear its influences (\u003cem\u003eAmon Duul II\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSkip Spence\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eEnnio Morricone\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eChu Kosaka\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMichael Chapman\u003c\/em\u003e) lightly but rather is steeped in them and toys with them, \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e brought in a host of guests to turn \u003cem\u003e…Coin Collection 2\u003c\/em\u003e loose from being a purely solo effort.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYuma Abe\u003c\/strong\u003e provides fractured, low-register chorus vocals that accentuate the ever-so-slightly mournful air to ‘\u003cem\u003eKingdom Weather\u003c\/em\u003e’, released today as a single, while \u003cstrong\u003eDana Gavanski\u003c\/strong\u003e provides beautiful harmony lines in ‘\u003cem\u003eWhat A Waste Of An Echo\u003c\/em\u003e’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDespite the number of collaborators and players (also including \u003cstrong\u003eRich Ruth\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eErin Rae\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003eCaitlin Rose\u003c\/strong\u003e) things never seem too crowded or brimming with too many ideas. Instead \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e marshalls each moving party expertly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIndeed, due to \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e’s languid Romford burr (pitched somewhere between \u003cem\u003eRobert Wyatt\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eRay Davies\u003c\/em\u003e), it only becomes clear when listening closely that some of the lyrics deal with weighty themes like dementia and violence. \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e says that “I sat for a long time with the songs and wanted to find my own identity”, and \u003cem\u003e…Coin Collection 2\u003c\/em\u003e suggests you do the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the same way that \u003cstrong\u003eCullum\u003c\/strong\u003e provides the pedal steel undertow of many huge artists’ music - \u003cem\u003eKesha\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLambchop\u003c\/em\u003e, and more recently \u003cem\u003eAngel Olsen\u003c\/em\u003e - the genius in \u003cem\u003e…Coin Collection 2\u003c\/em\u003e is in its subtlety, in what it murmurs rather than shouts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Full Time Hobby","offers":[{"title":"Gold | LP","offer_id":50402202353995,"sku":"2001468","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50402202124619,"sku":"2001466","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50402202222923,"sku":"2001467","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Spencer_Cullums_Coin_Collection_2_d82c19bd_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726535429","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/spencer-cullum-coin-collection-2","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}