Premiere: Spencer LaJoye Shares New Single 'How Are You'

Premiere: Spencer LaJoye Shares New Single 'How Are You'

The first disc Shadow puppets Releases February 16th

January 11, 2024

By Caleb Campbell

Photo by Daley Hake

Next month, indie singer/songwriter Spencer LaJoye is set to return with their new full-length album, Shadow puppets. Although the record is technically considered their debut, they've been writing and touring in their diary-style indie folk for over a decade. However, a moment of reinvention came with them coming out as non-binary and recording for the first time as Spencer LaJoye. LaJoye debuted in 2021 with their EP, Remember oxygen, and followed last year with their second EP, Plant a piano.

Through each of these records, LaJoye projects a glowing authentic core, the music itself representing a map of LaJoye's path to the present moment. They describe their latest effort as “…music from a queer, ex-Christian theater kid who learned to play guitar and piano in high school worship groups. So think bedroom indie folk meets 'Dear Evan Hanson' meets that moment in Hillsong's choruses when all the guitars drop out to expose the crowd's vocals and Phil Collins' drums.”

After releasing the title track and lead single last year, LaJoye returns today with another new track, “How Are You,” premiering on Under the Radar.

With “How Are You” LaJoye shows a penchant for finding heartfelt beauty in life's smallest moments, painting vignettes full of pastoral simplicity and heavy resonance. The track is a softly paced and meditative effort, driven by spectral keyboards, lonesome guitar strums and atmospheric production, alongside a theatrical string section that joins halfway through. Meanwhile, LaJoye's vocals gently float into the mix, exploring the domestic moments where bad habits and unhealthy inherited behaviors emerge. “I cared when I asked / I didn't hear what you answered / Sorry I do / Genetically I think I move too fast,” LaJoye sings. Ultimately, it's a song about the moments when you realize you're becoming like your parents, both for better and for worse.

Check out the track below, along with an introductory Q&A with LaJoye on the song and the album. Shadow puppets released everywhere February 16th.

What is the story behind this song? What prompted you to write it?

My parents have six big kid boxes full of childhood stuff in their basement storage. And they always try to get rid of them. I feel like every year of my adulthood since I left that house, I get a text from my mom around the holidays to the extent of, “Can you take a moment while you're here to go through your boxes in the basement? ” I never understood how this job never gets done. There are always more boxes, always more past to go through. When I notice certain mannerisms and habits in myself that I have inherited from my parents—ways and habits that I can never quite get rid of, no matter how much I unpack them—I think of those basement boxes. This song was written after a particularly salient moment when I recognized my mother in me.

How did the song come together, both musically and lyrically?

It was very easy to write. The song came together pretty painlessly and flows conversationally. I didn't want to overwork awkward or boring lines like “How do you like your omelettes and crepes?” or “It's a meat day, anyone got anything new to say?” With the exception of the chorus – which was so enjoyable to me – many of the songs feel so uninteresting to sing, and that monotony is kind of the point. I love how both the music and the lyrics have this everyday quality, so I left it pretty unedited. Most of the brilliance in this came in the production process.

What is the message of this song? What do you hope it conveys?

Someone once asked me, in response to hearing this song, “What do you do with the fact that we become parents?” I appreciated the invitation not only to observe, but also to heal in some way. However, I wasn't sure how to answer my friend. I know I want to honor my inherited behaviors that are healthy and alive, laugh at the things that are benign… but it's much more complicated when it comes to things that are inhibiting or destructive. This song doesn't do that job for anyone, but it's a good companion, I think. I hope it helps listeners feel less alone in this universal human experience of coming to terms with our generational standards and baggage. We all do so much work and unpack so many boxes beneath the surface while we go about our lives just trying to ask and answer the question, “How are you?”

Speaking of messages, what are overarching themes or messages throughout the album, overall? How does this song fit in between them?

This song comes about halfway through the 12 songs. The whole album is about my past. I like that little vignette in the center of the LP. It's quite simple. Sincere. It appears after a handful of more complex songs about personal habits and memories, as if to say, “Okay. To put it another way. I'm becoming a mother and I'm stressed about it.” It boils the whole thing down to something everyone can relate to: the overwhelming nature of human interaction. The inability to tell or hear the whole truth. The way we try, anyway. I am a haunted house full of history and ghosts and shadows. So are you. This song is a look inside one of the boxes in the basement.