Rae Spoon Explained

Rae Spoon
Birth Place:Calgary, Alberta
Occupation:Singer-songwriter, short story writer
Period:1990s–present
Nationality:Canadian
Notableworks:First Grass Spring Fire, superioryouareinferior, My Prairie Home

Rae Spoon is a Canadian musician and writer. Their musical style has varied from country to electronic-influenced indie rock and folk punk.[1]

Personal life

Spoon grew up as a transgender person in Calgary, Alberta. They were raised in a Pentecostal household by a paranoid-schizophrenic father. Their father's religious beliefs caused anxiety to a teenage Rae. Spoon now lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

In 2003, Spoon said they identified as a trans man. In 2012, during an interview with fellow advocate for the gender-neutral pronoun and cartoonist, Elisha Lim, Spoon noted a preference for the pronoun "they",[2] and has identified as non-binary since then.[3] They explained to Now Magazine, "after years of fighting to be called 'he,' the idea of coming out again made me tired. But now I feel kind of rejuvenated, ready to fight on some more. I think the 'they' pronoun is a pretty cool thing. It's letting a lot of people not have to identify as a man or a woman. Whatever it means to them."[4]

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which forced them to cancel a series of tours, Spoon was diagnosed with cervical cancer. They said they did not know what the prognosis was at that point.[5] They underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, and at one point were suffering so much that they considered seeking medical assistance in dying; however, by October 2020, they were declared cancer-free.[6]

Career

Spoon started performing before they started recording. They decided they wanted to become a songwriter while performing at the age of seventeen.[7] They emerged as a country and roots singer. Their early music features country imagery to the sound of acoustic string instruments such as banjo, guitar and mandolin.[8]

Spoon has performed with such artists as Annabelle Chvostek, Ember Swift, Kinnie Starr, Melissa Ferrick, The Be Good Tanyas, Bitch & Animal, Natalie Merchant and Earl Scruggs.[9] They have performed at festivals including North Country Fair, South Country Fair, Under the Volcano Festival, and the Vancouver,[9] Regina, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Brandon Folk, Music & Art Festival and Winnipeg folk festivals.

Spoon's breakthrough album, 2008's Superioryouareinferior, was recorded in Calgary and introduced some electronic music elements into Spoon's style. Superioryouareinferior includes themes previously used by Spoon like Canadian history and culture such as the commentary on colonialism in their song "Come On Forest Fire Burn The Disco Down".[10] Superioryouareinferior was a longlisted nominee for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.[11]

While touring Europe Spoon met Alexandre Decoupigny in Berlin. Decoupigny and Spoon collaborated in the album Worauf Wartest Du?[12] Decoupigny taught Spoon how to create music with a computer which inspired the musician to further experiment with electronic music.[13] The experimentation with electronic music influenced their subsequent albums and culminated in I Can't Keep All Our Secrets.[14]

They have also published First Spring Grass Fire, a book of short stories about growing up in Alberta. Arsenal Pulp Press released the book in the fall of 2012.[4] The book was a nominee for the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards in the Transgender Fiction category,[15] and Spoon was awarded an Honour of Distinction from the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers in 2014.[16]

Spoon has stated that First Spring Grass Fire was written to help them prepare for the production of a National Film Board of Canada documentary about their life and music, My Prairie Home, directed by Chelsea McMullan. The film was released in the fall of 2013.[17] [18] My Prairie Home, the album of music that Spoon composed for the film, was a longlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize.[19]

In 2012, Spoon and Ivan Coyote collaborated on Gender Failure, a touring multimedia show in which both artists performed music and spoken word pieces about their failed attempts at fitting into the gender binary.[20] A book based on the show was published by Arsenal Pulp in 2014.[21] Gender Failure was nominated for the ALA's Over the Rainbow Project List in 2015.[22]

In 2014, Spoon composed music for the feature film The Valley Below.[23]

Spoon began the music label Coax Records "out of a love for indie music and as an answer to under representation for many groups in the music industry."[24] The album "Armour" was released on Coax in 2016.[25]

In 2017, Spoon published a manual in the How To series, entitled How to (Hide) Be(hind) Your Songs.[26]

Discography

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=126&csid2=4&fid1=33965 Rae Spoon's Long View
  2. http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/elisha-lim-and-rae-spoon-talking-shop "Elisha Lim and Rae Spoon: Talking Shop"
  3. News: Spoon . Rae . Transgender Day of Visibility in the era of COVID-19: Four artists in conversation with Rae Spoon CBC Arts . 19 October 2020 . CBC . 31 March 2020 . It's close to 20 years since I came out as transgender and eight since I came out as non-binary..
  4. http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=184903 "Rae Spoon: Powerful album reignites the pronoun debate"
  5. News: Nair . Roshini . For non-binary musician Rae Spoon, a cervical cancer diagnosis came with an extra dimension of anxiety . 19 October 2020 . CBC . 3 April 2020.
  6. https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/rae-spoon-not-dead-yet After cancer treatment, non-binary singer Rae Spoon took on the system with most personal album
  7. King. Moynan. Canada's Dandy Duet: The Performance Collaboration of Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon. Canadian Theatre Review. 18 January 2012. 149. 46–51. 10.3138/ctr.149.46. 192184847 . See p. 48.
  8. Web site: McPherson. David. Your Trailer Door. exclaim. Ian Danzig. 17 April 2015.
  9. http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/Rae_Spoon_offers_an_affectionate_homage_to_another_era-706.aspx "Rae Spoon offers an affectionate homage to another era"
  10. Web site: Ash. Amanda. Superioryouareinferior. Exclaim!. Ian Danzig. 17 April 2015.
  11. http://exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=147&csid2=4&fid1=49036 "Pop goes Rae Spoon"
  12. Web site: Angus. Mike. On The Hunt. Vue Weekly. Aberdeen. 17 April 2015.
  13. Web site: Hudson. Alex. Rae Spoon Talks 'I Can't Keep All of Our Secrets,' Reveals New Track and Canadian Tour. Exclaim!. Ian Danzig. 17 April 2015.
  14. Web site: Adams. Gregory. Rae Spoon Announces 'I Can't Keep All of Our Secrets'. Exclaim!. Ian Danzig. 17 April 2015.
  15. http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/awards/rae-spoon-kamal-al-solaylee-among-canadian-lambda-nominees/ "Rae Spoon, Kamal Al-Solaylee among Canadian Lambda nominees"
  16. http://www.writerstrust.com/awards/dayne-ogilvie-grant.aspx Dayne Ogilvie Prize
  17. News: Rae Spoon is different by nature, and proud of it. Kelly. Brendan. 13 December 2013. Montreal Gazette. 13 December 2013. 14 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131214024106/http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Spoon+different+nature+proud/9278484/story.html. dead.
  18. News: My Prairie Home. Lederman. Marsha. 28 September 2013. The Globe and Mail. 6 November 2013.
  19. http://www.aux.tv/2014/06/polaris-music-prize-announces-2014-long-list/ "Polaris Music Prize announces 2014 long list"
  20. [Richard Burnett]
  21. http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/2014/06/20/rae-spoon-and-ivan-e-coyote-share-personal-stories-in-gender-failure/ "Rae Spoon and Ivan E. Coyote share personal stories in Gender Failure"
  22. Web site: 2015 Over the Rainbow List: 78 LGBT Books for Adult Readers. 1 February 2015. Over the Rainbow Books. en-US. 27 March 2019.
  23. https://nowtoronto.com/music/best-original-scores/ "Best Original Scores: TIFF tips for music lovers"
  24. News: About Label – Coax Records. Coax Records. 14 September 2018. en-US.
  25. Web site: Rae Spoon Returns with 'Armour'. exclaim.ca. en. 14 September 2018.
  26. Web site: How To (Hide) Be(Hind) Your Songs. How To Be Books. en. 27 March 2019.
  27. Francis Baptiste, "Rae Spoon's 'Not Dead Yet' Dances in the Face of Mortality". Exclaim!, August 9, 2023.