Selected Reviews

"It's a classic indie pop sound. Steven Tait's guitars luxuriate in a deep warm bath of distortion, his vocals wobble like a novice cyclist, and the rhythms supplied by bassist Hayden Sinclair and Brian Donnelly are resolutely unflashy... for every song that doffs its beanie to The Bats, early Chills or David Kilgour, there's another that recalls great off-shore pop bands such as The Go-Betweens, Pavement or Dinosaur Jr."
Grant Smithies - Sunday Star Times - ****

"It is a rare song that can be played two or three times in a row, each listen revealing layer upon layer of musical goodness. Neil of Diamonds is such a song and it could evolve into a genuine Kiwi classic... A spa-rkling debut."
Paul Easton - Marlborough Express

This Auckland trio are primarily focused on bringing mid-tempo sunshine into your life, and tracks like the gorgeous “Neil of Diamonds” and the propulsive “Yale” do just that. For being such a quick-and-dirty debut album (nine tracks that clock in at just under a half-hour) that happens to be filled with enough jangle-joy to make Fountains of Wayne blush, it’s somewhat surprising that the best moment is actually the slowest one: “Growing Up” is the kind of alt-rock slow-dance track that works both as a prom-night ballad and a long-lost Eels b-side.
Popmatters

Liner Notes

Spa are:

Brian Donnelly - Drums, Percussion
Hayden Sinclair - Bass
Steven Tait - Other

All songs by Spa except "Beautiful Punk", by Andrew Schraa

Recorded at York Street (Neil of Diamonds, Yale) and Arch Hill Studios (all other titles) in Auckland.
Arch Hill Recordings engineered, mixed and mastered by Ben Howe.

Thanks to Ben Howe at Arch Hill, Clint, Steve, Jeremy, Martin at York Street, Mat and Andy for images and Andrew, Shaun and Ronnie...

Cover Desisn and Illustration: Mat Tait mtait@ihug.co.nz