Staff Reviews

Part Time - Spell #6

Review by Lee Adcock

No modern pedagogic icon could rescue Part Time from their outdated infrastructure»

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Nearing a decade old and with a discography reaching deep into double figures across several different labels (Mexican Summer, Burger, Plastic Response Records) David Loca’s work under the Part Time moniker really shouldn’t require any introduction. Nonetheless, the release of what is officially his sixth album, fittingly titled Spell #6, does signal something of a re-birth and provides a compelling entry point for anyone new to Loca’s prolific output. Whereas previous albums were notable for a charming lo-fi production, Spell #6 takes Part Time uptown. “I describe this album as ‘my studio album’, because it was entirely re-recorded at my drummer Walter Byer’s studio, unlike most of my past releases being bedroom experimental pop recordings.” Loca produced the record himself, impressively appropriating a classic 80s pop sound that recalls some of the more grand productions of that era - think Stephen Street’s expressive production on Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me, Crowded House and The Church’s widescreen interpolation of Paisley Underground jangle, and there’s even traces Gerard McMann’s grandiose Cry Little Sister. In that sense, the record stands as an outlier in Loca’s catalogue, and in doing so sheds the sometimes limiting trappings of bedroom recording
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