Spacey Jane; Two Month Reflection on 'Sunlight'
{interview by Emily-Layne Kapetanovic}
The immensely moving debut album Sunlight from Fremantle four-piece Spacey Jane has made waves in the music world since its release in early June.
These twelve tracks explore the themes of love, anxiety and personal growth — while simultaneously espousing the band’s trade-mark jaunty sound and compelling lyricism. Sunlight becomes a journey of knowing yourself, of accepting the highs and the lows, and then hitting repeat on the album to celebrate.
We caught up with vocalist/guitarist Caleb Harper to discuss the making of the record.
Your debut album ‘Sunlight’ dropped on June 12, how does it feel to finally have this one out in the world?
It’s super exciting for us, we’ve been working on it for a long time and releasing an LP has always been a dream of ours.
Is there an agreed upon favourite track on the album or are they all equal in your eyes?
I think we all tend to agree that Booster Seat is the favourite. Something about the space and stillness is a nice change to a lot of our earlier stuff.
The premise is a kid sitting in booster seat that mum or dad had to put them with their feet dangling about the car floor and having basically no control, completely at the mercy of the people they love. It’s a metaphor of for losing control of yourself in love through anxiety, and relying on the person you love to protect and keep from harm. It makes me cry when I listen to it sometimes, I hope people are able to find something as moving in the content as I am.
You’ve been releasing music for almost three years now, has the way you write your songs changed from your earlier tracks to now with all the new music on ‘Sunlight’?
I think we’re better at getting a song to sound the way we envisage it in the beginning and more comfortable in the studio in general. More than anything we tried to write the songs more in studio from the ground up for Sunlight rather than bringing in completed tracks.
You’re from the beautiful Perth, do your surroundings influence the way you write your music and what you tend to write about?
I think so, it is an incredibly beautiful place and it consistently feels a bit behind the pack which we love. There’s lots of time to think and reflect in that kind of environment so I think that’s the greatest impact it has.
Is there something you know now as artists that you wish you’d known when you just started out releasing music?
We’ve learnt a lot over the last few years so it’s hard to narrow it down but I think I would have worried less about trying to fit into a specific genre and been comfortable just expressing ourselves.
Obviously it’s been a super tough time for musos all around the world, are there any artists that you’ve been getting behind that you reckon deserve an honourable mention?
Ghost Care from Perth are huge legends and an incredible band. Loving the new stuff from Sycco in Brisbane and Fontaines D.C.’s new album is so good!
What does the future hold for Spacey Jane?
We’re chipping away at album two and ready to hit the road as soon as possible, very exciting times ahead!
Stream Sunlight here.
You can also catch Spacey Jane live at Wave Rock Festival, or at their very own Back On The Road Regional WA tour.