Swerve Track by Track October 2008

Rae Spoon
Jesse Locke, Calgary Herald Swerve
Published: Friday, October 03, 2008

Like many musicians, creative types and extraordinary human beings in general, Rae Spoon is a bundle of contradictions. First possessed to pick up the banjo as his instrument of choice, Spoon left Calgary in his 20s to become one of the world’s only transgendered country artists. Three albums followed, as well as welcoming fans across Europe, Australia and the USA.

Now, after a two-year hiatus, Spoon is back with superioryouareinferior, a release that spices up his traditionally twangy sound with a whole cupboard’s worth of new seasoning. Most notable are the string arrangements and electronic textures, but on “My Heart Is A Piece Of Garbage. Fight Seagulls! Fight!”, there’s even a flood of free improv noise courtesy of Calgary’s Chris Dadge and Scott Munro.

Throughout the album’s lyrics, Spoon shares thoughtful and unusual stories of Maritime grandfathers, Great Lakes and queer kids in small towns. He calls out his peers for ignoring the past but utilizes the musical style of the present, and pokes fun at local values even while representing the Calgary tower as a beacon of hope. These words are delivered in a warm, timeless vocal style, providing the sweetest contradiction of all.

Rae Spoon’s CD-release show is Wednesday, Oct. 8 at the Marquee Room. Hear more at raespoon.com or myspace.com/raespoon.

Rae Spoon

On the songs of superioryouareinferior

Track by Track

Great Lakes “I’ve spent a lot of time driving past the lakes, so I ended up writing a song about two of them. In some way, I guess there’s a bit more content than just the lakes, but I was speaking for them in a song. They’re fairly large, so there’s a lot of time to think when you’re driving around them.”

My Heart Is A Piece of Garbage. Fight Seagulls! Fight! “It’s a Calgary song. I guess it sounds negative, but I think I tried to make the tower beautiful as well. There are different perspectives you can have on Calgary on any given day.”

Come On Forest Fire Burn The Disco Down “This song is a challenge to people on the arts scene or the music scene to recognize the colonial history of Canada, and not be obsessed always with the new. I disguised it as an indie rock song.”

Bones In A Museum “I started writing this song after that whale swam up the Thames and got lost. A lot of songs about that whale are starting to surface, I’ve noticed.”

I Can’t Wait To Hear The Noise “This song is about cabin fever, being up somewhere like Dawson City for a month, out and away from the city for a long enough time. I spent a January there for an art project.”

If You Lose Your Horses “I think that’s the most country of any of the songs. It was the first song I wrote for the album.”

Off The Grid, Underground “I wrote that song about queer people in small towns, and how you never really know what’s going on in a small town. You might think you know, but you can’t really tell. I like that.”

Strength From Within “That song I wrote in Newfoundland, and ended up recording a lot of the electronic parts with my friend Alex – I can’t even say his last name – in Germany. The lyrics are Newfoundland, about the history there with sailing and mining, but then it ends up being an electronic song.”
Jesse Locke, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, October 03, 2008

I’ll Be A Ghost For You “I wrote that in a haunted house in Dawson. I had a lot of time to dissect the psychology of the ghost, which made me feel better. This was at an artist’s residency, and they don’t tell anyone there’s a ghost until you get there. I never actually saw it, but there’s a book there that all artists write in, and it was full of ghost stories. It’s really dry there, so the house was super creaky. It’s hard to tell what was the ghost, and what was just Dawson.”

We Become Our Own Wolves “That was also started in Dawson. I thought there were wolves outside, so I didn’t want to take the garbage outside because there was a lot of meat in it. I started thinking about agoraphobia, and ended up tying it into being scared to leave the house when there aren’t wolves.”

Strength From Within (S.I.) “That’s the solo version with just the guitar. I don’t think there’s even a guitar on the other one, it’s just a Rhodes, a lot of electronic sounds, and sounds of walking in the snow and stuff. This version is how I do the song live, and I liked it that way, too.”