Spencer Brown – Illusion of Perfection Review

It wasn’t long ago that the late great Avicii tapped a young, talented, and hungry producer by the name of Spencer Brown to support him on his True Tour back in 2014. Flash forward four years and Spencer Brown has solidified himself as one of progressive house’s best and brightest. Today, his highly anticipated debut album, Illusion of Perfection, sees its release.

At only 24 years of age, Spencer Brown has had years of experience toying with instruments and crafting music. He first picked up an instrument at the age of 2, and hasn’t looked back since. Jono Grant from Above & Beyond recently described Spencer as someone who is always playing with music, trying to find the perfect melody and sound. Spencer truly has shown his musical skills through every song he’s conjured up. Illusion of Perfection highlights his craft and sound engineering in 12 meticulously crafted tracks.

Kicking the album off are the mellow grooves of ‘The Gardens’, followed by the slow and steady ‘I’ll Never’. One of the stand out tracks is ‘Airplane Tekno’ which features jazz pianist Roderick Demmings Jr. The album goes a little darker with ‘Arps N Crafts’ before ‘Will I Ever Find Love’ brings you back to vibrant and happy melodies. This track has stood out for months as one of Spencer’s highlighted works.

Spencer’s trademark flow and melody are on full display with the track ‘J2’. ‘Audio’ is an upbeat track, move your feet type of track which features his college friend Liam Hathaway. My personal favorite on the album is ‘waves.wav’. Spencer created each element of this track flawlessly. The sounds are crisp while the tempo is fluid and rhythmic.

Spencer Brown also pays homage to his home town of San Francisco a few times on the album. ‘Nightwalk’, ‘Hippie Hill’, and ‘Bill Graham’ are all dedicated to an aspect of Spencer’s San Fran life. ‘Nightwalk’ was inspired by the late night journeys throughout the city. ‘Hippie Hill’ emulates the constant moving of the city. ‘Bill Graham’, the name of the famed venue, inspired Spencer from one of his first big venues he played at.

The final track of the album is Spencer Brown’s collaboration with ALPHA 9 a.k.a ARTY. ‘No Going Back’ already saw its release early this year on Anjunabeats. It has already become a fan favorite and clearly one of Spencer’s to include on the album.

Spencer Brown credits Avicii for one of his most influential pieces of advice. Brown said that Avicii once told him that when you produce a track, “the melody is the most important part of a record, so always begin with writing the melody.” Each of the twelve songs on the album has an incredible melody. They are easily the most attention grabbing elements of each song. Anjunabeats and Spencer Brown are both lucky to have each other.

Coming up for Spencer Brown are a wave of big festival appearances. These include EDC Vegas, Electric Zoo, and supporting Above & Beyond at their Common Ground show at the Steel Yard in the UK. Make sure to give Illusion of Perfection a spin below. Make sure to let us know what you think of Spencer Brown’s debut album.