- Words Notion Staff
To celebrate their empowering new EP, ‘That Girl’, indie rock duo SpaceAcre talk providing catharsis for fans, what they’ve learned since working together, and the importance of creating a safe environment for concert-goers.
Unveiling a new side of themselves, SpaceAcre’s latest single “That Girl” from their homonymous EP is an unapologetic anthem for anyone who identifies as female. All the while showcasing their raw indie-rock energy, the track, complete with powerful vocals and electrifying guitar riffs, serves as a beacon call for the queer community. Its roots lie in stories from queer friends about verbal abuse on the streets, which they say is on the rise.
Phoebe Little and Jas Scott, the two members of SpaceAcre, form a duo of opposing styles at play. Creating the mystical sound of their EP through entrancing effects and dramatic flair, Jas’ experimental style meets with Phoebe’s singer-songwriter background to craft the array of dark pop melodies. “That Girl” brings together a holistic collection of songs, which the band have slowly breadcrumbed over the past year, plus one new song “Say”. Encapsulating ideas from love and relationships to prejudice and discrimination, “That Girl” is a powerful offering marking a new sonic beginning for SpaceAcre.
Alongside the release, we caught up with the indie rock duo to talk providing catharsis for fans, everything they’ve learned since working together, and the importance of creating a safe environment for concert-goers.
Let’s start at the beginning… When did you form SpaceAcre and what’s the story behind deciding to make music together?
Phoebe: We formed the band while we were out in France, writing for another project. It was kind of a happy accident. We discovered we had a real chemistry in the studio and were writing songs that sounded like they didn’t fit with the project we were meant to be writing for at all. I was buzzing about the demos we’d created and in the middle of the channel on the ferry journey back to England I asked Jas if she wanted to be in a new band.
What different skills, qualities and music tastes do you both bring working together?
Jas: That’s a tricky one to answer as we’ve been writing together for quite a while now and our skills definitely overlap. But in the beginning, we approached writing songs in opposite ways – Phoebe comes from a storytelling, singer-songwriter way of thinking. She has this epic way of delving into the heart of a story lyrically like you’ve been dropped into a moment. I saw songwriting through the lens of writing in bands, musically driven and about the way it feels – momentum shift and harmonic changes. I tend to be more experimental.
We do have quite naturally different music tastes but there’s lots of crossover. I’m naturally into heavier music, new and old (grew up listening to Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against The Machine, Led Zeppelin), whereas Phoebe is all about the melodies (Laura Marling, The Weepies, Phoebe Bridgers). What’s really nice is that Phoebe has introduced me to loads of artists I’d never really spent time listening to before, and vice versa.
What have you learned from each other since working together?
Phoebe: Jas has taught me to create outside my comfort zone. It’s okay to push yourself and feel uncomfortable in a session – that’s normally when you get the best results.
Jas: Phoebe has taught me to overthink things less and to trust my instincts more.
‘That Girl’ is now out in the world – how long did you work on this project and how did it evolve creatively in the process?
Jas: Yeh, so excited for people to be able to hear it. We have been working on this EP for quite a while and our sound has definitely evolved during that time. We went from having to remotely record everything during COVID and not seeing our band at all, to tracking the song “That Girl” with our live band together in the same room, which captures a completely different energy.
How would you describe the EP as a whole sonically? Would you say it fits in a genre or spans several?
Phoebe: It’s hard to describe the EP sonically as it’s quite varied, but someone we know described it as “ethereal with balls”. We don’t really think about genres, we just create and see what comes out. Because the formation of the band happened so organically we just created and didn’t judge or try and fit into any kind of genre. As our writing process evolves we seem to be heading towards a more definite genre.
Did you experiment with new directions in sound for this project?
Jas: Yes, while we were making it, we were also playing our first shows. We have great chemistry with our live band mates and wanted to try capturing our live energy on the record, so that’s where we’ve evolved to by the end.
Lyrically, what themes informed the writing?
Phoebe: The songs are some of our personal stories around grief, queerness, female empowerment, relationships, family politics, mental health.
There’s some really emotive moments in the project – “Say” in particular delves into really heavy themes of grief. What does it mean for you to have this song out in the world?
Jas: It feels really good to release “Say” as it was the first song that we wrote for the EP. It’s about something that isn’t really talked about much, but touches everyone at some point in their life. Hopefully people will connect to it.
Was writing that track cathartic for you?
Jas: Yes, definitely, but also really hard to write. It was cathartic to talk with Phoebe about losing my best friend Jamie. The song is about a very vivid dream I had about him where we met in a busy station. Writing the song was incredibly emotional, but it felt good to remember him.
Do you hope the music can act as a source of catharsis for listeners too?
Jas: Yes, that’s the hope. If you’re able to move someone with your music, then you’ve done your job right.
What about feeling those moments live? Are you excited to share the music in a live space?
Phoebe: So excited – these tracks work even better in the live space than on the record in our opinion, so can’t wait to get out and play.
What do you want your live shows to feel like for fans and what kind of environment do you want to foster?
Phoebe: Immersive and epic. We’d love it to be an inclusive environment, a safe space for anyone to come and be themselves and hopefully have a good time.
The video for “Say” is really beautiful. How important are visuals for you in storytelling and where do you draw your visual references from?
Jas: Thanks so much. The visuals are always extremely important. People listen with their eyes. For this particular song, everyone working on the music video had a direct connection with who the song is about. I’ve always wanted to work with my twin, who’s a professional dancer, on a project, and this was the perfect opportunity as she was also very close friends with Jamie. Our visual references mainly come from film and art that inspires us. For “Say” we wanted to play with silhouettes and the visuals were lead by the choreography (by Sarai Scott Neale). But for “That girl” for example, we were heavily inspired by the “Joker” film (Joaquin Phoenix) and our favourite heist movies.
How will you be celebrating the release this weekend?
Phoebe: We’ll be celebrating with mates that we haven’t seen in a long time so it should be a great weekend!
Looking to the future, is there anything you’re hoping to tick off the bucket list for the second half of the year?
Jas: We’d love to be on a support tour with someone like boygenius or MUNA.