Rae Spoon is a transgendered country singer from Canada. Okay that is probably enough there to land a record deal as I mean there has to be some sort of niche market out there that will lap this stuff up purely for the novelty of it. With this, Spoon’s fourth solo album, he decides to drop a bit of the country feel of the previous albums for more of an indie folk direction, and I think this might have been a big mistake.
Superioryouareinferior starts off very strong with “Great Lakes” which is an excellent haunting piece about – big surprise – the Great Lakes, describing travelling past them and such and it is very pretty and nice. However soon after this track it falls into a sort of mawkishly typical indie-pop/folk vibe and has trouble getting out of this rut.
Supposedly a tribute to Spoon’s meanderings on the highways and byways of Canada, and the darker experiences of these ventures. I have a hard time getting over the maudlin style of vocals though that seem a little to invested in the themes while not really adding much to them; it just seems so overreaching that it takes away from the vocals. Like the ideas of the songs are crushing the vocalist before he can fully explain the story. And I probably would be less critical and just assume it was the sound if it wasn’t for the opening track which really works (and of course the early work which I bothered to listen to just to get a sense for what the stylistic change was), showcasing a more authentic sincere vibe.
But to me a lot of the musical ideas and emotions come across as just insincere, I know it’s supposed to be an outside interpretation of a certain person’s view of an actual place, but I don’t know I guess I just don’t buy it. If you are a fan of that incredibly sentimental indie-pop type stuff, who knows you might love this. I really can’t put a fault on the talent and abilities on this album. There is an incredible ability to play and a sense of styling etc, composition… timing… you know all the good stuff that goes into records you like.
Maybe it’s just me , maybe I should stop expecting so much from artists that have potential, and just take them as they are. You know what I mean eh? Just totally be like yeah that’s where it is at, that’s where it’s at. Forget all this nonsense of hoping for something a little more, something a bit more timeless and memorable. Maybe it’s all on me that I can’t just accept these easily forgotten songs and albums, when you can feel in the song writing that there are a few gems in there, just waiting to be found.
Just start treating it like candy quickly consumed, enjoyed and then forgotten 10 seconds later, so you have to buy more and more to try to get some kind of kick out of it. There is not a lasting savory taste that remains in your mouth like a nice pie. The type that you are still thinking about hours later. No just some nice sugar down the hatch and gone. And you forget even what type of candy it was in half an hour.
Yeah I think that is all in my own head. Just accept it, this is the modern idea of music. Easily consumed and easily forgotten. I mean the albums are going to move anyway, or at least get downloaded. And people will come to these shows anyway based on word of mouth from some crappy free weekly that really doesn’t care about the music but need something to print to demonstrate hipness. So they pick something and blow it up to crazy proportions and then you are left going to the show and finding that the writer has no idea what kind of music it is.
But yeah I’m stuck where I am expecting that little more. But that’s okay. And Rae Spoon is not by any means a poor musician. Maybe I’m out of touch with these (post) modern times. (brrr I hate post-modernism, I cant believe I included a mention of that).
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