Spottiswoode just released his new album “It Wasn’t In The Script”, and it’s a very personal kind of record right from the start. It’s not trying too hard, not chasing trends, just telling stories in a very honest and sometimes playful way.
The album opens with the title track “It Wasn’t In The Script”, and honestly it’s a great way to begin. It’s fun, catchy, and has this full and rich sound that pulls you in quickly. You kind of get a taste of everything that’s coming next. The band sounds tight here too, like they really know what they’re doing and are enjoying it.
“Prayer #1” slows things down a bit. It’s a duet with his daughter and you can really hear that soft and angelic voice behind him. The song is simple, like a quiet moment, almost like he’s just saying thanks for life and what he has. Nothing complicated, but it works.
“Old Man At The Station” was easily one of the strongest tracks for us. His voice goes deeper here and the writing is great. There’s a story in it that keeps you listening, and the chorus just hits right. Everything from the singing to the instruments is well placed. It’s one of those songs you replay without thinking.
Then you get “Oh, What A Beautiful World”, which is calm and easy to listen to. Not too heavy, just nice melodies and clean production. Same goes for “When I’m With You”, but that one adds more emotion. There’s even a moment around the middle where the rhythm changes and it really lifts the song. Small details like that make a difference.
“Just As We Planned” brings in more energy with strong guitars and drums. It’s more like a rock moment on the album and it works well. Then “The Bullet’s Coming” changes the mood again. It’s more unique in rhythm and atmosphere. His daughter’s voice shows up again and adds something special.
“I’m A Worrier” is catchy and a bit raw in a good way. “Through The Shadows” feels more personal and emotional, and honestly, it’s one of the most touching songs here. You can feel it. “It’s Always Something” keeps things simple again, nothing too big, just real emotion in his voice.
“You Think Too Much” is a fun one, a bit lighter, almost playful. And then “Summer Day” closes the album on a happy note. It’s a proper ending, warm and easy, like everything comes together.
Overall, this album is really about being a father, getting older, and just dealing with life as it comes. It doesn’t try to hide anything. Some songs are funny, some are emotional, and some sit right in between.
Spottiswoode carries this whole record with his voice and writing, but his daughter adds something really special too. And the band behind him deserves a lot of credit, because without them, this wouldn’t sound the same at all.
In the end, we really enjoyed this album. It feels honest, a bit different, and full of heart. It’s just perfect and simple but that’s why it works. We’d even say this could be one of those albums that sticks with you for a long time.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Referred to as a “genius” and a “downtown ringleader” by The New Yorker, Spottiswoode is the son of an American singer and an English clergyman. WNYC’s John Schaefer describes the singer-songwriter-playwright-filmmaker as “one of New York’s more colorful band leaders for more than a decade.”
Spottiswoode & His Enemies features Spottiswoode (guitar, vocals); John Young (bass); Tim Vaill (drums); Candace DeBartolo (saxophone); Kevin Cordt (trumpet); Riley McMahon (guitar, kitchen sink); Tony Lauria (keyboards, accordion).
With the band, Spottiswoode has released seven acclaimed records, performed numerous Manhattan residencies and toured worldwide from SXSW and Lille Europe to Lincoln Center. The band has been profiled on NPR’s Weekend Edition and has been featured on the nationally syndicated radio programs XM Loft, World Cafe and Soundcheck.
Spottiswoode’s songs have won or been nominated for at least half a dozen Independent Music Awards. His songwriting has drawn comparisons to Leonard Cohen, Ray Davies, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, David Bowie, Randy Newman and many others. Still, he is his own man. He composes mostly on guitar, sometimes on piano and occasionally in his head – “very rarely, but those are often my best.”
His tunes have featured in a wide variety of television shows and films (A Street Cat Named Bob, She’s Out Of My League, The Ledge, Tart, Bridget, Bloodline, Kingdom, Nancy Drew, Zone Blanche) as well as in his own short film, The Gentleman, which he wrote, directed and scored and which played for several years on the Independent Film Channel. His earlier trilogy of music videos, Loneliest Woman In The World, earned consecutive Student Emmies in Los Angeles.
Spottiswoode’s newest album, IT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT – due for release on April 21st – focuses on the joys and humiliations of fatherhood and growing older. Sentimental. Irreverent. Morbid. Light-hearted. Rock. Gospel. Pop. Americana. Cabaret. A typical Spottiswoode record! Except this time one of the backing vocalists is his own daughter, Sophie Lee.
Before becoming a dad Spottiswoode moved to London and released Lost In The City, his farewell to New York, an epic brew of jazz, chanson, rock, blues and minimalism. The Enemies’ seventh record was included on several international Best-Of-Year lists and nominated for three Independent Music Awards.
It “feels like the punchline to a joke that begins ‘Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and Frank Sinatra walk into a bar…’ The man and his jaw-droppingly tight seven-piece are simply that sophisticated, that eccentric, that charismatic, time after time after time.” (The Daily Vault)
Lost In The City was itself a swaggering antidote to the band’s sixth and more atmospheric collection, English Dream: “A gloriously lush album!” (Popdose); “One of the half dozen best albums of the year” (New York Music Daily).
The band’s fifth album, Wild Goosechase Expedition – a critically hailed “miracle” about a rock band’s doomed wartime tour – won two Independent Music Awards: Best Adult Contemporary Song (for the piano ballad, Chariot) and the Vox Populi Award for Best Eclectic Album.
Ironically, Spottiswoode has always hated being called eclectic. “We are expressionists!” he pleads. Although his songs travel the gamut from raw rock and roll anthems, confessional jazz ballads and gospel-inflected hymns to vaudevillian ditties there is a distinct signature to Spottiswoode’s work and a compelling emotional unity to the band’s shows.
WXPN’s Dan Reed concurs: “They do something that few bands can do: evoke real emotions, sometimes several different ones in a single song.” Paste Magazine describes the live show as “nothing short of transportive!”
In addition to recording with the band, Spottiswoode has released four acclaimed solo albums and the IMA-nominated duo record, S&M, with band guitarist Riley McMahon. New York chanteuse Bronwen Exter also covered thirteen of the Englishman’s loungier songs for her beautiful debut album, Elevator Ride.
Spottiswoode’s most recent acoustic foray, I Have So Many Friends, is a collection of unplugged songs – new tunes and greatest hits – recorded live in Germany with a European quartet. Since the release he has continued to tour extensively in Europe – solo or with friends – and in the USA with His Enemies.
Of course there are other ways to tell stories besides singing and writing songs. Spottiswoode works with longer narrative forms as well. His musical, Above Hell’s Kitchen, played to sold-out crowds at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Loosely inspired by Mozart’s Don Giovanni, it’s part ghost story, part romantic comedy; a gothic rock opera about a musician and his psychotherapist on a collision course with the truth. In January 2026 Breaking Borders, a New York based theatre company, presented a staged reading of the most recent incarnation – Between The Angel And The Old Kent Road – to an invited audience at London’s Seven Dials Playhouse. Their goal is to find investors to take the project forward.
Spottiswoode’s screenplay Either Side Of Midnight – four interweaving tales set over one Friday night in New York City – was recently turned into a feature film by the James Bond director, Roger Spottiswoode. Amazingly, Roger is no relation.
Alas, despite all his songs and scripts, Spottiswoode still hasn’t settled on a style or even found his voice. He does portraits, landscapes, love songs, emotional psychodramas, abstracts, expressionist hallucinations, ornamental screens, stick figures, cartoons, and old-fashioned soda pop. He is happy to work in oil, clay, acetate, latex, wax, collage, mixed media, ceramics and crayon.
Clearly, Spottiswoode doesn’t know what he stands for. He recognizes this as a commercial liability and agrees with any critic who would consider it a long-standing artistic pitfall. It is the symptom of a life-long, not yet life-threatening, identity crisis.
He blames his mother.
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