Galia Durant’s story began in a household running amok with records, art and books. Galia’s mum collected protest songs while her dad is a professorial art historian with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Indian classical music. Galia “loved it all,” finding no real distinction between Woody Guthrie peacenik anthems, Sarangi etudes and her elder brother’s acid jazz albums. After struggling to learn violin and piano (she preferred her 1988 vintage Casio SK-8 sampling keyboard, which the band still use), at 8, Galia graduated from a more-ideas-than-action ‘band’, “GO”, formed with her brother.
Carim Clasmann’s musical youth was spent in German recording studios learning the alchemical business of faders, compressors and microphones. A self-professed failure at the school recorder and a frustrated guitarist, he dabbled in music-making while cutting demos for other people. Quickly rising through the Cologne studio ranks, Carim learned his chops recording bands like Einstürzende Neubauten and Die Toten Hosen and even worked at Can’s famous Inner Space studio, always dallying with music of his own on the side. He moved to London at the close of the ‘90s, working and then taking up residence at the King’s Cross studio/house he and Psapp currently call home.
Carim met Galia through mutual, musically-inclined friends who would often gather at the studio. For a year or so the duo experimented, united by an eclectic taste for Tom Waits, the Cure, Erik Satie, Duke Ellington and “anything that’s silly and uses stupid noises.” Their own ‘silly noises’ married to Galia’s sultry vocals and perspicacious lyrics produced recordings of shimmering originality and nascent charm - an opinion shared by the handful of labels to which Psapp, as they’d by now christened themselves, sent demos toward the end of 2002. A litany of recordings duly followed. Early 2003’s debut EP for Melodic called, instructively, Do Something Wrong was followed by a single, "Difficult Key", the following Autumn. After seeing a live show by Morr Music electronicists ISAN and befriending the band’s Robin Saville, Psapp’s next recordings would appear on Saville’s own Arable imprint, with Winter ‘04’s Buttons And War EP attracting rave notices.
Around this time several Psapp tracks found their way to US music consultants who were universally wowed by the band’s evocative charms. The duo’s music seemed to chime with the TV zeitgeist and their music started to seep into primetime dramas (not to mention a very high profile Volkswagen advert), culminating in the track Cosy In The Rocket being chosen as the theme music to hit ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which premiered in March 2005. At a stroke, burgeoning inquisitiveness about Psapp turned into an eager US fanbase. Meanwhile, in King’s Cross, dust wasn’t being allowed to settle. A Japanese EP, Northdown appeared in March 2004, swiftly followed by a vinyl-only 4-track nugget, Rear Moth for the discreet Wiaiwya imprint – some tracks from which would appear on the band’s debut album for Arable (also licensed to Leaf for the US and Canada, Third Ear in Japan and Gronland for much of Europe). Released in February 2005, Tiger, My Friend consolidated the burgeoning interest in all things Psapp. MOJO magazine’s four star review – “Arresting, childlike pop confections… effortlessly carved pop sophistication…” was typically hyperbolic. With Psapp duly rising, the major labels soon came a-courting but by autumn 2005 Psapp had spurned their fevered advances, preferring to ink a deal with Domino.
Toward the close of ’05 Psapp embarked on their first live ventures. Translating their records’ layered complexity to the stage was never going to be easy, but with the multi-instrumental Galia and Carim joined by Gwen Cheeseman (violin, floatation toys), Eshan Khadaroo (drums, lumps of wood), and Jim Whelan (bass, keyboards, ashtrays etc), (joined in 2008 by Matt Jones (keyboardist, Ultrasound, Minuteman)), Psapp took to the road around the UK and Europe, eventually honing an exhilarating, ‘in the flesh’ version of their incomparable recorded sound. Initial touring forays successfully completed, Psapp set about buffing their second album to lustrous perfection, pausing only to head down to the Dorchester Hotel to pick up the BMI Award for 2005’s Best TV Theme Tune for ‘Cosy In The Rocket’.
Psapp are known for their humour on stage, throwing cats (hand-made by the band) into the audience and their highly eclectic music videos.
Eating Spiders
Psapp Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who tells me that he loves me
God is everywhere
He says he lives above me
I know more about this man
Than i know about you
Further than we go
In what we go through
We are small
We are small people (x4)
There's a day in a month
When I know why we're here
And no one drags us down
When you flip my gear
My mother doesn't love you
Even though she tries
I told her so many things
I forget the lies
We are small
We are small people (x4)
You will take the whole of me (x8)
The whole of me
The song Eating Spiders by Psapp is a complex and layered exploration of spirituality, relationships, and self-discovery. The opening verse introduces us to a man on the street who claims to love the singer and believes God is omnipresent. While the singer claims to know more about this man than she does about her romantic partner, she also acknowledges that both relationships are limited and incomplete. The sweeping statement "God is everywhere" is countered by the recognition that the man lives "above" the singer, suggesting a power dynamic that is both hierarchal and ambiguous. The singer's identity and agency are in question as she navigates the complex terrain of love, faith, and self-doubt.
The chorus "We are small people" is repeated four times, underscoring the theme of human insignificance in the face of larger cosmic forces. The second verse delves into the idea that there are certain moments in life when we feel grounded and purposeful, and no one can bring us down. However, the reliability of this feeling is called into question when the singer alludes to a romantic partner who flips her gear, suggesting that relationships can be destabilizing and tumultuous. The line "My mother doesn't love you" adds another layer to the theme of interpersonal relationships as the singer navigates the tension between familial expectations and personal desires. The closing lines "You will take the whole of me" are repeated eight times, suggesting a sense of surrender and vulnerability that is at once frightening and liberating.
Overall, Eating Spiders is a thought-provoking and nuanced examination of the human experience, touching on themes of spirituality, love, self-doubt, and the search for meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a man in the street
Encountering a man in the street.
Who tells me that he loves me
The man tells the singer he loves her.
God is everywhere
The man believes God is omnipresent.
He says he lives above me
The man believes God lives above humans.
I know more about this man
The singer knows more about the man than her companion.
Than i know about you
The singer knows less about her companion than the man in the street.
Further than we go
No matter how far they go.
In what we go through
In their shared experiences.
We are small
Humans are insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
We are small people (x4)
Reiteration of human insignificance.
There's a day in a month
One day every month.
When I know why we're here
The singer knows the purpose of human existence on that day.
And no one drags us down
On that day, no one brings them down.
When you flip my gear
When the singer's mood changes.
My mother doesn't love you
The singer's mother doesn't love her companion.
Even though she tries
Despite her efforts to accept the relationship.
I told her so many things
The singer has confided a lot in her mother.
I forget the lies
The singer can't remember the lies she's told her mother.
You will take the whole of me (x8)
The singer's companion will consume her entirely.
Contributed by Liliana D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.