This November 4th marks the release of “Through The Shadows”, the third single from Spottiswoode’s forthcoming album IT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT.
The song tells the simple story of an autumn walk taken by the singer in the company of his young daughter. This may sound familiar. Spottiswoode’s last single, “When I’m With You”, told a similar tale. In that case his daughter was still a baby who needed to be pushed around in a stroller. Here she’s a few years older. Instead of pushing his daughter he’s now chasing her as she speeds away “through the shadows” on her scooter.
A still from the video shot by Clare Elliott
The song starts out meditatively in a Leonard Cohenesque whisper before evolving into something closer to a rock anthem, more like a jangly hybrid of U2 and The Beatles. Spottiswoode layers his Fender Stratocaster over a dreamy, then driving, rhythmic foundation featuring Brian Geltner on drums, tambourine and castanets; Drew Hart on bass; Kenny White on piano and Fender Rhodes; and producer Peter Fox on a Gibson 347. The celestial backing vocal section includes singers Andrew Miller, Matti Müller and none other than the subject of the song, Spottiswoode’s daughter Sophie Lee.
The video was shot in London and edited by Clare Elliott, Sophie Lee’s mother. In other words it’s very much a family affair. “Sophie Lee will have just turned ten at the end of October,” says Spottiswoode. “I need to release this song and the rest of the album before she’s already grown up!”
IT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT, an album of twelve songs about fatherhood and other humiliations, is due for release in April 2026.