With the engineering and production help of Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Yo La Tengo), Thom Monahan (devendra banhart/Lilys), Mark Alan Miller (J Mascis/Dar Williams) and Elisha Weisner (kahoots), Spouse has captured stunning recordings of their music over the years.
1999's '1 Marvel To DC' and 'Focus' were hits on college radio, making enough of a stir to have the song Superman featured on National Public Radio's 'This American Life'.
2000's Nozomi was met with much critical acclaim and was widely broadcast through heavy internet radio play.
2003's Love Can't Save This Love broke into the College Music Journal's Top 200 through February and March 2003. The album included a video for the over-the-top electro-dance song Boots & Pants.
A single for the song Catch 22 was released in February 2004, including their much loved cover of Til Tuesday's Voices Carry.
The summer of 2004 saw the arrival of Spouse's third full length, Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye?, and Spouse's first tour outside of the northeast, with Chicago-based Millimeters Mercury. Over the next two years, college and internet radio play continued to spread Spouse's music around the country or world, with the songs Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye? and Army Song receiving much attention. MTV also took notice of Spouse and licensed the entire album of Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye? for their popular shows, 'Laguna Beach' and 'The Hills'. During this time Spouse began touring frequently, including doing a tour opening for their friends, the pernice brothers.
From the summer of 2005 to 2006, Spouse wrote and recorded a large body of work in a turn-of-the-century farmhouse, formally owned by nina simone's manager as a recording studio for her. The outcome was Spouse's fourth full-length album, relocation tactics, which was mixed by Adam Lasus and Mark Alan Miller and was released on April 10th, 2007. In support of relocation tactics, Spouse went on their longest national tour to date, spanning more than five weeks and hitting many of the lower forty-eight states, including a fun show opening for friends Dinosaur Jr. at the Cashbah in San Diego. In the fall of 2007, Spouse cut a video for the song Hangover Cure For Humanity with MetroSpace Media in Chicago, which has a fast growing viewership on youtube.
official website: www.spousemusic.com
myspace: www.myspace.com/spouse
* Spouse members...
(••• indicates a frequent live performer, •• regular live performer or • occasional live performer)
José Ayerve ••• – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (v, g, b, k, d)
Liz Bustamante • – since 1998, co-writer: N, LCSTL (k, d, v)
John Cowden – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL (d, b, g, v)
Alisha Goldblatt – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, RT (d, b, g, v)
Naomi Hamby • – since 2000, co-writer: LCSTL, K/W?, RT (g, k, v)
Ken Maiuri •• – since 1998, co-writer: N, K/W?, RT (k, g, b, d, v)
Don McAulay •• – since 2004, co-writer: K/W?, RT (d)
Michael Merenda • – original member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (d, g, v)
JJ O’Connell ••• – since 2001, co-writer: K/W?, RT (d, v)
Kevin O’Rourke ••• – since 2004, performer: RT (b, g, v)
Daniel Pollard •• – original member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (b, g, k, d, v)
Mark Schwaber – since 2003, co-writer: RT (g, b, d, v)
(key: d = drums, b = bass, g = guitar, k = keys, v = vocals; albums: N = Nozomi, LCSTL = Love Can’t Save This Love, K/W? = Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye?, RT = Relocation Tactics)
Producers / Engineers...
Adam Lasus – LCSTL, RT
Mark Alan Miller – N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT
Thom Monahan – N, LCSTL
John Truscinski – LCSTL
Elisha Wiesner – K/W?
Extended Family (past or occasional live or recording players/vocalists):
Bart D’Alauro, Nick Lamberto, Gabe McElwain, Erin McKeown, Ruth Ungar Merenda, John Nunan, Henning Ohlenbusch, Anne Pinkerton, Peyton Pinkerton, Philip Price, Flora Reed, Jeremy Smith, Robert Voyer, and many others...
Chiffon
Spouse Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
for this complete collection of these lovely little things.
Cause I put a plastic bag out on your lawn.
And I tied that little flag down with chiffon.
Can't keep being the object of your limited affection
while you strive to reach perfection like you
never reached before.
And I can't keep filling boxes with letters anymore.
And I can't keep chasing angels from heaven like a whore.
So I can't keep making deals with the devil anymore.
The lyrics to Spouse's song "Chiffon" are a poignant commentary on the painful experience of being in a one-sided relationship. The singer in the song is tired of being the object of their partner's obsession and limited affection, and recognizes the need for a change. They can no longer be an accessory in their partner's life, allowing themselves to be collected like "lovely little things."
The first stanza speaks of the singer's attempts to disengage from the relationship, symbolized by the placing of a plastic bag on their partner's lawn and the tying of a little flag down with chiffon. These actions demonstrate a desire for closure and an end to the obsessive collecting of the singer by their partner.
The second stanza highlights the singer's frustration with their partner's need for perfection and the realization that they can no longer place their own needs and desires aside. They can no longer be the one to leave crossword puzzles at their partner's door or fill boxes with letters. The singer also acknowledges their own mistakes or "deals with the devil" in chasing after their partner's angels from heaven. These lines express the singer's recognition that they too have contributed to the unhealthy dynamic of the relationship and are ready to break free from it.
Overall, the song "Chiffon" is a powerful reflection on the struggle to break free from a toxic relationship and reclaim one's own sense of self.
Line by Line Meaning
Can't keep being the object of your personal obsession
I can't continue to be the sole focus of your obsession
for this complete collection of these lovely little things.
especially when it's for the sake of your collection of trinkets
Cause I put a plastic bag out on your lawn.
That's why I put a plastic bag on your lawn
And I tied that little flag down with chiffon.
And I secured it in place with chiffon, so you couldn't miss it
Can't keep being the object of your limited affection
I also can't keep being the only one you give partial affection to
while you strive to reach perfection like you never reached before.
when you're so focused on achieving perfection that you haven't before
Cause I can't keep leaving crosswords at your door.
I can't continue to leave crossword puzzles for you at your doorstep
And I can't keep filling boxes with letters anymore.
I also won't keep writing and packing letters in boxes for you
And I can't keep chasing angels from heaven like a whore.
I can no longer continue to waste my time and energy chasing something unattainable like an angel
So I can't keep making deals with the devil anymore.
I also won't keep making compromises or deals with you, who I see as the devil in this situation
Contributed by Grace R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.