Heartbreak and uncertainty never sounded so good for Australian indie alt-pop fit, Spacey Jane. Their new album, If That Makes Sense, is reflective and riddled with nostalgia. Named after their self-proclaimed tendency to be full of contradictions, and as a nod to their attempt to reconcile the disparate parts, the band shares, “it’s hard to give it a theme other than an overwhelming sense of confusion and a less than successful attempt to tie up emotional loose ends.” In its confrontation with the past, there is a natural thread of regret and self-reproach, but never hopelessness. There’s an element of surrender to what has happened and the choices that have been made, but also a conscious shrug and continuation into the future.
The album opens with an intro track that is glittering and hopeful, like the clarity of remembering, or something being unravelled. It waves us through a summary of the album, the tenderness of the song floating on the full palette of the album’s sound, like a nostalgic, sunny memory, before transitioning with a sigh into the opening track.
“Through My Teeth” is a standout beginning track. One of the strengths of this album is the reflective, heartbreaking lyricism. “Who’ll drive you home? / Your friends have gone / Breaking off little parts of me… / is it enough to be lonely?” The anthemic guitars and hooking melody are layered with kaleidoscopic, trickling synth notes and no shortage of reverb. One of the catchiest songs off the album, the whole track floats belly-up in its vulnerability, with a sour tang of loneliness permeating all three minutes.
They lean into nostalgia in “Whateverrrr”; “September, you watched me come undone as you said / ‘remember the backyard sprinklers getting me wet?’” The singer tries to enforce a feigned nonchalance onto events of the past that still occupy space in his mind and break parts in their overstaying, “whatever, I’ll think of you forever”. This track stands as more proof that Spacey Jane are masters at alchemizing melancholy into something catching and upbeat.
Slinging in with a 2014 era, 1975-esque indie rock bop, “All the Noise” feels destined to be the most replayed track of the summer. The track employs guitar riffs so perfectly executed that they scratch at something you didn’t know needed itching, while the powerful bass grounds the song. The verses reverberate through a kind of cosmic void before crashing back down to earth for the meat of the chorus: “It’s all just fuckin’ noise.”
“Impossible to Say” is a more mellow track but no less catchy in its melodies, and Caleb Harper’s voice sprouts wings as it tends to do and carries us away with them. “So Much Taller” dwells on loneliness in its retrospective approach; “everything’s the same but I’m older / no one’s ever taught to be lonely”. The song then reflects on the shame of wanting to be loved and the desire to reach out and open up and the immediate internally cringing that happens immediately from that, “you will never be enough / you will never be loved / and the fact that you’re trying is embarrassing enough!”
While the album offers pop and rock anthems and head bobbing catchy melodies made for road trips and live performances, Spacey Jane also bring the energy down a bit towards the end of the album. “Estimated Delivery” has a very beautiful brief electric guitar solo and interjects itself occassionally almost in a mocking, playful way between Harper’s statements in a delicate back and forth. “Falling Apart” towards the end has a very beautiful lulling sing-along between vocals and guitar near the bridge, “I keep and calling, and calling, and calling, and nobody answers…”, it’s absolutely hypnotizing.
For the entirety of the album, the instruments offer just as much emotion and reflection the vocals and lyrics do, and they all collaborate as if they’re one entity. Every song deserves its own individual praise, but the best compliment I can give this unskippable album is that it’s an activity in itself; the kind of album to put on a turntable and lie on your living room floor listening to all afternoon before getting up just to start it over and do it all again. Spacey Jane seem to be skyrocketing in their ability to coordinate as a band in expressing their shared vision. This is the kind of album that has tracks that continually get rediscovered over time until they’ve all been plucked from the album individually.
If That Makes Sense seems is steeped in elements of loneliness and nostalgia, and it’s visceral not only in its lyricism. Spacey Jane have the perfect sound for capturing the essence of this emotion; the sadness and expression of Harper’s vocals contrasted with the upbeat layers of the band’s sound. Just like nostalgia, the band have a heartbreaking but also comforting quality about their sound; ethereal and fleeting. It is absorbent; every song is full to the brim with charged emotion and reaches in and extracts something from the listener. Spacey Jane are one of those bands, I think. There is no passive listening.
