The Spitfires - Life Worth Living (LP)

By the time The Spitfires hit their fourth album, they had already carved out a loyal following on the back of sharp songwriting, wiry guitars and a soul undercurrent that set them apart from the usual indie rabble. Life Worth Living, released on Acid Jazz Records on 17 July 2020, feels like the point where all their threads knot together. It is lean, melodic and surprisingly tender in places, without losing the grit that first put the Watford crew on the map.

Billy Sullivan’s voice carries the album. He does that tightrope walk between snarl and sincerity, sounding equally at home spitting out barbed lines about everyday pressure and crooning over a swelling string line. The band around him is locked in. Sam Long’s bass has bounce and bite, George Moorhouse’s keys add colour and warmth, and Matt Johnson’s drums keep everything taut. You can hear the group’s love of classic British pop running through this set, from late 70s power pop and mod to the brass flecks of Jamaican ska and the clipped rhythms of early soul. Nothing feels like pastiche though. The Spitfires fold those flavours into songs that move with purpose.

The title track is the obvious flag planted on the hill. It arrives with a rolling groove and a chorus that rises clean out of the verses like a hand out of choppy water. There is a bit of romance in the air, but it is working class romance, the kind that smells like wet pavements and takeaways after a shift. You can picture it lighting up a small room, pint glasses raised, voices louder on the second chorus. That mix of uplift and grit is the album’s secret weapon.

Elsewhere, the group leans into their knack for contrast. There are tight, two-and-a-half minute runners with stabbing guitars and Hammond organ, and there are open-hearted mid-tempo tunes that give Sullivan room to sing. When the horns arrive, they are used with restraint, like a knowing nod rather than a costume change. The arrangements are not flashy, but they are smart. Hooks turn up in the bassline, or in a simple keyboard figure that keeps tugging at you across the verse. The production is clean enough to let those parts breathe, yet there is still a live-in-the-room pulse that keeps everything moving.

What sets Life Worth Living apart from the band’s earlier work is the way it widens the frame without losing focus. The rough edges remain, but there is more shade and subtlety. The social detail in Sullivan’s writing is still there, small snapshots that feel familiar if you grew up on British guitar records, yet he lets hope in. Even when the lyrics bite, the melodies sweeten the blow. It is easy to see why fans took to it. The Spitfires had always sounded hungry, but here they sound certain.

The timing gave the record extra weight. Mid 2020 was a strange, isolated stretch, and these songs offered a sense of community, even if it was just you and a turntable in a quiet room. It is an album made for that ritual too. Drop the needle and the rhythm section snaps into focus, the organ glows, the chorus blooms on the title track, and you remember why you still hunt out records. If you are browsing for The Spitfires vinyl, this one feels like a keeper, the kind of album that sits next to your copy of Setting Sons or Parklife and holds its own.

For anyone keen to buy The Spitfires records online, Life Worth Living vinyl turns up regularly and is worth grabbing before prices creep up again. It pairs well with the earlier LPs if you are building a run of The Spitfires albums on vinyl, and it is a nice gateway for friends who missed the band the first time around. I have pointed a few customers toward it while chatting in a Melbourne record store, and it usually comes back with a grin and a nod a week later. If you are in the habit of scouring shops or ordering from places that ship vinyl records Australia wide, put it on your list.

Life Worth Living confirms what long-time followers knew. The Spitfires had the songs, the chops and the heart. This album gathers those strengths and gives them a bright, human shine. It is not a grand statement, just a very good record made by a band that cared, and that is often more than enough.