A Spoonful of Rae

Most girls swoon when they listen to Calgary Alberta native Rae Spoon's lilting melodies. Maybe the guys do too, I never enquired.

Transplanted from Calgary to Montreal (Quebec) in 2008, Rae has been known to travel the world sharing his musical stories. Sometimes acoustic and folky, and other times electronic and quirky, Spoon's live shows range from demure, quiet events to screeching, howling hoe-downs. Howling, you ask? Yes, howling is a common feature of many of Spoon's live performances. He has a knack for enlisting audience participation. A crowd-pleaser is "We Become Our Own Wolves", off Spoon's latest full-length solo CD "Superioryouareinferior". The song is often interspersed with impromptu anecdotes and encouragement to howl like a wolf, as much and as loud as anyone may please.

Quite the jokester, Spoon is also known to break into unexpected cover songs, which one would not expect would be obvious choices for an indie-folk musician. You like BeyonceBeyonce? Yep, he's covered her. Shania Twain? Yeah, been there, done that. Almost without fail, these cover tunes usually kick the originals waaay out of the ballpark. Spoon's personal twists on the tunes he selects to remake totally make them his own.

Cover songs are fun, but the real meat of Rae Spoon's oeuvre can be heard in his original compositions. Many have a melancholic feel to them - almost haunting. "I'll Be a Ghost For you" is a beautiful, slow number, that would normally sound odd next to a tune such as "Come On Forest Fire (Burn the Disco Down)", which has a driving electronic guitar sound, and causes an unrelenting urge to tap one's feet. But Spoon juxtaposes folk and electronica seamlessly.

Currently promoting a collaborative CD he made with Berliner Alex Decoupigny, Rae Spoon has become quite a fixture on the queer music scene in Canada. The man seems to be playing a show once every couple of weeks, always in diverse venues. If you ask him real nice, he may agree to come play your school, local bar or even...living room!

raespoon.com