Spacey Jane dive into the unknown on third record ‘If That Makes Sense’
The indie-rock quartet’s strength of sound and emotional fearlessness makes for their best album yet.
Photo: Cole Barash
With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt, and more than enough chemistry to set headphones ablaze, Australia’s Spacey Jane have finally returned with their third album, If That Makes Sense.
Dubbed their most ambitious record to date, If That Makes Sense sees the indie-rock quartet embark on an expedition to the previously unexplored fringes of their sound. Made in the US with new collaborators and without a label to call home, this self-funded record was brought to life with songwriters Jackson “Day Wave” Phillips and Sarah Aarons (Childish Gambino, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li) and produced by Mike Crossey (The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Wolf Alice).
After inviting you to take a final breath of certainty in their atmospheric album intro, Spacey Jane instantly dive into their nostalgic, sun-speckled sound on firm album favourite, Through My Teeth. Marked by the sweet jangle of their typically Aussie guitars as much as by the track’s ear-worm chorus, Through My Teeth doesn’t just stand out for its squeaky-clean production, but also for the breadth of feeling it invokes. It’s a track of smiling reminiscence and melancholic nostalgia. Of buzzy nights out and blurry mornings after. And it’s in these contradictions that we find the album’s beating heart.
Leaning into the opposing forces of forgiveness and anger, love and breakdown, If That Makes Sense doesn’t actually try to make sense of these conflicting feelings, but instead chooses to bloom in emotional confusion. Whateverrr sums up this idea with its dead-on lyrics about falling out of love: “Whatever, I’ll think of you forever.” As does lead single All The Noise, thanks to its riotously bouncy quality despite being a track about the soul-crushing nature of rejection.
Slower tempo tracks How To Kill Houseplants and I Can’t Afford To Lose You also turn quiet drops of sorrow into crushing streams of heartache. The band’s strength of sound and emotional fearlessness creating moments of grandeur out of simple musical components in each track, enabling frontman Caleb Harper’s melancholic vocals to shine brightly on the former, and the addictive combination of the band’s agitated guitars and thudding drums to explode on the latter.
Despite the uncertainty of topic that this album incessantly delves into, If That Makes Sense is a record that feels entirely grounded and self-assured musically, with tracks like So Much Taller and Falling Apart bringing to mind some of Spacey Jane’s earlier music, but now with added finesse and a new depth of sound.
It’s clear that by jumping headfirst into the creative unknown, Spacey Jane have given themselves the space to grow. The profound intensity of sound, theme and feeling makes If That Makes Sense an emotionally forward album that doesn’t try to be anything it’s not; or in fact, anything at all. Like contradictions themselves, it’s an album that just is. There’s no need to tie up emotional loose ends or pretend personal conflicts don’t exist, Spacey Jane have simply written how they feel, and we’re lucky enough to get to hear it.
If That Makes Sense is out May 9th via Concord.