Indie Europhiles Spector have chucked their name behind the Remain campaign today with new song, Born In The EU. With less than 24 hours until Britain goes to the polls to vote on whether to stay a member of the European Union, the track is a three minute ode to the treaty of Maastricht, a paean, in the words of frontperson Fred MacPherson, to “being part of something larger, more cultural, unknown and adventurous”.
“I wrote Born In The EU with our old guitarist Chris Burman in 2013, a few months before he left Spector,” MacPherson says, in an open letter accompanying the track. “We never ‘finished’ this song and weren’t sure we were ever going to release it but then it dawned on me that by the end of this week we might no longer even be a part of Europe, and for one of the first times in my life, I felt the clock tick.”
The keener-eyed Spector fan will of course note that the band have flirted with pro-European imagery in their work before, the video for 2012’s Celestine featuring a European Flag draped over the drum kit. And on Born in the EU — a riff on Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 track Born in the U.S.A. — the band tie themselves fully to the Remain mast with a sentiment that echoes the sense of internationalism that has always informed their sound.
“‘I’m not gonna tell you how to vote, just vote’ is a popular internet adage, and though I can’t disagree with the sentiment, this one seems a little too big to keep our opinions to ourselves,” continues cool rocking daddy MacPhearson. “Unlike a general election we won’t get another chance in five years. For me, the vote comes down to what sort of country we are. Are we outward looking and internationalist? Or inward looking, parochial and xenophobic?”. Have a listen to the track below.
Credits
Text Matthew Whitehouse