Spacey Jane, Perth's next runaway success story, hit a new peak with Straightfaced

Header image by Daniel Hildebrand.

We always knew Spacey Jane were something special, but we didn't expect the rest of the world to realise that so quickly. Since their early arrival in 2017, the group have become synonymous with Perth's new generation of talent, capturing the passion and fierceness of the city's rising musicians of tomorrow through angsty indie-rock, taking popular, conventional sounds and adding a distinctly unique twist to them to craft something brilliantly new and exciting. 

From the second they arrived, Spacey Jane were favourites within the Perth live music world, playing some of the city's essential stages for young, up-and-coming acts (SOTA Festival, WAM Fest and so on). In later years, however, the rest of the country has caught on too; the band now finding themselves go-to essentials of Australia's greater festival world, and representative of the country's constant search for the next big thing, a.k.a. something they can brag to their mates about saying "we saw Spacey Jane play to only 100 people at the local pub!" when they're eventually playing Glastonbury, or something like that.

It doesn't help that their music has been fierce too. Since their break-out 2018 EP In the Slight, the four-piece have consistently pushed our searing rock-pop that floats between different textures and energies. In 2019 alone, songs like Good Grief, Good For You and Head Cold showcased their versatility, or their knack in crafting brilliant alt-pop regardless of whether it was something a little more heavier and punk-aligned, or something softer and more subtle; the latter coming through once again with their 2020 single Skin.

Their new single Straightfaced keeps this continuing, with the group once again fleshing out the light-hearted, summer-y tones of their work that this time around, underlay lyricism a little bit darker and intimate, with frontman Caleb Harper using the single as somewhat of a cathartic release after a long-winding break up. "It was a powerful reference point for me throughout the months of heartache, a good consolidation of feelings amongst a wave of emotions," he says, something you can feel as his vocal stings with a little more emotive bite this time around.

It's a brilliant track that showcases exactly what we've come to love from a group that's very quickly grown up. No matter how things have changed for Spacey Jane - when we first met, they were on the road to their debut EP, but now we're talking debut albums - they've always remained authentic in what they bring, whether it's musically or just generally speaking; the group representative of Perth's close-knit music community, from aiding young bands play their biggest stages to date, or jumping out and helping other acts behind-the-scenes.

Anyway, their forthcoming debut album Sunlight is set to be something really special with its release on June 12th, regardless of what goes down in the world between now and then. "It sucks that we can't be touring right now but we're just happy to be safe and healthy, and keeping cautiously optimistic about getting back out there as soon as it’s safe to do so," the group say. "Releasing the album is really giving us something to look forward to, and hopefully other people feel the same about it!"

Dive into the Straightfaced below, and pre-order the new record here.

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