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...
Telephrenic
Spouse Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm a schizophrenic
You sent a message and it blew me away
It's such a good dynamic
I panic
I'm symptomatic of the things that you say
I take a psychedelic
I'm just a fuck up on your weird holiday
If things get problematic
You'll shoot your automatic
Into the space between my right and my left lung
It's open season on my...
I better get to the point
Why don't you roll another-
What was it I was gonna say?
It's open season on my...
I better get to the point
Why don't you roll another joint
What was it I was gonna say?
Now that my thought has gone away...
It's all so systematic
The way it sounds like static
Don't try to call it tragic
Don't try to call it tragic
Don't try to call it tragic
You're a telepathic
I'm a schizophrenic
You sent a message and it blew me away
You say you're stuck in traffic
You know that I'm an addict
I'm just a fuck up on your weird holiday
The lyrics to Spouse's song Telephrenic revolve around the theme of communication and how it can elicit various responses from different individuals. The opening lines juxtapose the two contrasting personalities of the people involved: the singer is a schizophrenic, while the subject of the song is telepathic. The message sent by the telepathic individual overwhelms and confuses the schizophrenic narrator. However, the dynamic between them is good, and the singer is symptomatic of the impact of the message.
The song then delves into a state of intoxication and addiction. The singer takes psychedelic drugs but isn't an addict yet. They self-identify as a 'fuck-up' on the telepathic person's 'weird holiday'. Things might go wrong, and if something does go awry, the telepathic person has an automatic weapon, and there's an allusion to murder or figurative killing. The lyrics then play with the idea of memory loss and the inability to recall the thought initially held before the substance abuse, ending with the line 'what was it I was gonna say?'.
Throughout the song, the lines 'It's open season on my...' and 'Don't try to call it tragic' repeat themselves, suggesting an analytical detachment from the events happening around the singer. The lyrics are poignant and underscore the difficulties of communication in relationships. Ultimately, the song showcases how different people react in different ways to the same stimuli.
Line by Line Meaning
You're a telepathic
You have an ability to read my thoughts without the use of physical senses
I'm a schizophrenic
I am a person affected by schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown in the thought process
You sent a message and it blew me away
You communicated something to me which greatly impacted me
It's such a good dynamic
We have a healthy and enjoyable relationship
I panic
I get anxious and fearful in certain situations
I'm symptomatic of the things that you say
Your words have a significant impact on my mental state
I take a psychedelic
I consume hallucinogenic substances
But I'm not quite an addict yet
Although I often use drugs, I am not yet fully dependent on them
I'm just a fuck up on your weird holiday
I am only causing trouble during your period of relaxation and celebration
If things get problematic
In case something goes wrong or appears difficult to resolve
You'll shoot your automatic
You will resort to extreme measures to solve the problem
Into the space between my right and my left lung
You will threaten me physically or emotionally
It's open season on my...
My situation is exposed and vulnerable to anyone's criticism or attack
Why don't you roll another-
Why don't you continue indulging in drugs or other self-destructive behaviors
What was it I was gonna say?
I have lost my train of thought due to my impaired mental state
Now that my thought has gone away...
Now that I am sobering up from the effects of the drug, I cannot remember what I was going to say
It's all so systematic
Our situation repeats itself in a mechanical and predetermined manner
The way it sounds like static
It seems like there is interference or disruption in our communication
Don't try to call it tragic
Do not label our situation as something that deserves sympathy or sadness
You say you're stuck in traffic
You state that you are experiencing delays or obstacles
You know that I'm an addict
You are aware of my dependency on drugs or other harmful activities
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind