ENGLISH DREAM

Nominated for an Independent Music Award 
(Best Adult Contemporary Album of 2014)

REVIEWS & RADIO PLAY

NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY 
(Delarue)
"One of the half dozen best albums of 2014 so far."

IMBY
(John Isaacs)
"A rough masterpiece. Oozingly beautiful. With its New York style of verbal and sonic subversion that ranges from moody melody to cacophonous dissonance, just about anything can be expected from sophisticated rockers Spottiswoode & His Enemies, though I’d never suspected them capable of anything like the deeply lyrical but almost frightening texture of their sixth record ENGLISH DREAM. Spottiswoode has drawn on his memories of England in this new compilation of songs... The troubadour in him somehow manages to eek out of that world, something approaching the musical parallel of a W.G. Sebald memoir."

CULTURE CATCH
(Dusty Wright)
"Some things take longer to reach critical mass. I've wondered why the UK-born, NYC-based artist Spottiswoode has yet to reach the mass acceptance he so deserves. Perhaps his deliciously seductive and sophisticated pop-rock music is too smart for mainstream audiences. Hopefully his wonderfully engaging new sixth album ENGLISH DREAM will continue to give rise to his career."

NORTHAMPTON GAZETTE
(Ken Maiuri)
"With at least eight records under their belt (ENGLISH DREAM is the latest, and one of the best), they’re the kind of group that’s so good, so talented, you can’t understand why they’re not regularly headlining huge sold-out theaters."

Charlotte CREATIVE LOAFING
(Michael Walsh)
"A showman with the soul of a poet. Spottiswoode, enabled by his diamond sharp Enemies, was very much a fool - the wise madman who lets kings and emperors proclaim while he zeroes in on the truth with wit, heart and humor. Material off the band's latest album, ENGLISH DREAM, was less overtly dramatic but no less compelling. Winding tendrils of Spanish guitar, syncopated drums and hissing hi-hat wove the richly textural "Golden Apple" which Spottiswoode dubbed, 'part nursery rhyme, part book of Genesis.'"

POPDOSE
(Rob Ross)
"Great sounding; great arrangements, so many delicious nuances in each track.. A gloriously lush album.  A fine, complete piece for all."

Pittsburgh IN TUNE
(Jeffrey Sisk)
"A record that cements his place among my favorite current artists. This 14-track release oozes emotion at every turn. Spottiswoode’s haunting baritone is on full display throughout, and he soars highest on “Till My Dying Day,” “I Didn’t Know I Was So Sad,” the title track, “ Genius Flower,” “No Time” and “Who Were You, Baby?”"

Baby Sue
"Yet another excellent addition to the Spottiswoode catalogue."

Milwaukee Urban Dial (Five Best Shows Of The Week!)
"Late English folkie Nick Drake and Australian expat Nick Cave, who lives in Brighton, are touchstones, as is a bluish-gray hint of imminent rain. Yet his music contains hints of magnificent American melancholy a la Leonard Cohen, and his latest LP, this year’s English Dream, imagines his home isle more than it longs to return there."

CMJ Magazine video premiere
"After having solidified a rootsy, expansive, pop sound, Spottiswoode And His Enemies get a little darker and cinematic on the new album. We’ve got the premiere of the new video for the first single, No Time For Love, a lovely, piano-led ballad that builds in intensity as the song goes along.
There is a video for each track on English Dream, and these videos, spanning the 20th century, feature the artists in period clothes performing in front of archive British Council film footage from different decades of the 20th century. This video—the first in a series of 14 videos that were all filmed in 10 hours over one day—features clips from a 1970s British short about commuter trains called Rush Hour, mirroring the sentiments of the song. Stop and smell the locomotive grease sometimes, folks."

Here Comes The Flood (Hans Werkman)
"Anglo-American septet Spottiswoode & His Enemies forgo joyful sounding songs on their new album English Dream. It's a concept album about good old England, home of front man Spottiswoode who coined the term Anglicana to describe the mood for this project. Recorded in Brooklyn at The Bunker and New Warsaw Studio the bands follows in his footsteps as he visits a football match (Chelsea-Arsenal) in the sad love song Till My Dying Day, and nicks fruit in Golden Apple: 'Only one. Don't the shake the branch / You could make an avalanche'..
"It sounds great, even when played through crap laptop speaker, but better pop it into a kick-ass audio set-up to be able to pick out all the nuances."

NEW YORKER preview
"The fact that Spottiswoode, a British guitarist, songwriter and bandleader who's been enriching the New York scene for some fifteen years now, calls his backing group Enemies instead of Friends, tells you something about their music - it's a little perverse, a little dark both harmonically and lyrically. with a touch of humor. Each song on the group's new album, ENGLISH DREAM, is accompanied by a video intermingling archival British cinema with shots of the band in period dress. The group will perform at Joe's Pub in front of the archival footage in celebration of the album's release."

Columbia South Carolina Free Times
"Evokes a kinder, gentler Nick Cave; his pastoral Leonard Cohen-isms are melancholy yet hopeful."

2 Dudes
"Each tune told a rich story. Video of British counsel propaganda from the 1940′s and 50′s played throughout the set.I felt Iike I was at an art gallery/show— transported to a different era. Spottiswoode sang about flowers blooming, butterflies, and love among other things"

AMERICAN SONGWRITER exclusive
Streaming premiere of the full record a week before release.

ITHACA JOURNAL preview (Jim Catalano)
"Spottiswoode said he wanted to make a “more haunting” record, one that’s devoid of the band’s trademark “novelty” songs. And while some listeners may describe the new album as eclectic due to its variety of influences — pop, folk, rock, jazz and more — he said, “by our standards it’s pretty unified record.” He described the new album as “Anglicana” to reflect its English sensibility. “And it’s not just in a musical way, but sort of in a romantic poet way,” he said in a phone interview last week. “Like the song ‘Genius Flower,’ the lyrics are a bit odd, like from some romantic poet who’s gone off his head.”

ITHACA TIMES preview (Bill Chaisson)
"The songwriter is drawn to the legacy of the Beatles and the Kinks, who borrowed freely from the English music-hall tradition, which has a distinctly absurdist, not to say silly, streak. Spottiswoode albums are characterized by breathtaking eclecticism and listening to any of them makes the listener feel as if they have been on some sort of amusement park ride that has left them slightly disoriented but nonetheless thrilled. English Dream is a bit different. “It’s more haunting and unlike any of our other records,” said Spottiswoode. “There are no novelty songs on it.”"

Radio Play

WXPN Philadelphia
KCRW Los Angeles
Sirius/XM's The Loft
KCMP Minneapolis            
WDST Woodstock
WTMD Baltimore            
WKZE Sharon, CT    
WYMS Milwaukee
WUMB Boston
WRSI Northampton-
WFHB-Bloomington
WCBE Columbus
WYSO-Dayton
WXYL Ithaca
WNTI Hackettstown
KRVM Eugene
KAXE Grand Rapids
WCNR Charlottesville
Maine Public-Portland/Bangor
WDET Detroit 
WYCE Grand Rapids
WMVY Vineyard Haven
KSUT Durango
WJCU Cleveland
WMNF Tampa-2x
WAPS Akron                
KRML Monterrey         
WFPK Louisville            
WERU E Orlando         
WFIV Knoxville           
KRC Salt Lake City        
WFIT Melbourne 
KRML Monterrey
East Village Radio NYC