Welcome to episode 80 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat.

This one is a little different – it’s a chat with Hannah and Jon from the Spines, specifically, a track-by-track walk-through of their new album, Epidural. It’s the first album released by the Spines for 30 years, Hannah is the newest member of the band, she’s been in the fold the last couple of years, Jon is the songwriter and founding member. Jon should be known to readers of the site and listeners of the podcast – as both a previous podcast guest (essential listening if you haven’t already) and a regular contributor to Off The Tracks via his weekly missives, The Ghost of Electricity; his War Stories.

I’ve been a temporary/replacement Spine in my time too – joining the band to fill in for a couple of gigs and rehearsals, Jon and I know each other well now, Hannah lives just down the road from me. So this was a friendly chat – but we focussed almost entirely on the new album. It’s a deep discussion of the songs and songwriting, of how the band shaped old songs anew; of what Hannah – as a new instrumental voice in the band – brought to the songs and saw in the material.

We had a lot of fun too. And through it you get some of the backstory of the band and huge insight into Jon’s songwriting process and his way of thinking; his lyrical muse/s.

It’s a great album, worth your time – and you’ll hear little snippets of every song in the podcast.

Also, we mention how Jon has written about many of the songs on this album for his weekly ‘Ghost’ posts. He has unpacked the lyrics or talked about the recording or at the least the writing.

So you might want to check out his thoughts and stories on those by clicking on any of the highlighted links here: There Goes The View, A Little Shuteye, The Supersane, Sex Can Be Sad, Rachel, On A Need To Know Basis, End In Tears, and he’s also written about the new album here, and here and here. So plenty of background/extras there if you want…

It’s been great listening to this album deeply, and talking about it – and getting to know it and to know more about the people behind it. I’m still of the opinion that Jon is one of the great (and underrated) songwriters in this country. So please enjoy this conversation where he unpicks some of the threads to his songwriting.

We get pretty merry here, especially towards the end. Well, hey, it’s an album – and conversation – worth celebrating!

You’ve found this via the link on Facebook or Twitter and/or from the Off The Tracks website – it’s hosted at Soundcloud and to receive the episodes before you even get to these show notes you can subscribe on iTunes. You can also rate and review the podcast there.

Please enjoy episode 80 of Sweetman Podcast, my conversation with Hannah and Jon of the Spines.