Spoke’s musical wheel turns to its own beat in his new album Trash

Spoke is the most interesting musician you’re never gonna see. It says so in his artist name.

“Well, I never planned on performing live,” he said. “So, everything I did was prerecorded. Instead of speaking about it, I spoke about it.”

His newest album, Trash, and its lead single, “Save Name,” put that uniqueness on display. He describes the album this way: “I just make this kind of random stuff that I enjoy listening to. There’s no defined genre.”

One example of his random approach — and also an example of his unique personality — is his marimba. The unique part is that, as a teenager, he spent his car money to buy it.

“It’s, like, 90 years old, and it has the old-school, arch resonators, which they don't make anymore. It was more than worth it,” he said.

The randomness is in how the marimba shows up in his songs now and then, like an old friend who drops in out of the blue, or like a recurring character in a TV show.

“It's just an instrument that I have and I know how to play,” he said. “It's not like, ‘Oooh, let me do something different.’ It's like I already have one. I put a lot of money into it. I might as well use it.”

Spoke admits that he would like to make his living off his music, but when he described his musical ambition, he said, “I just want to make good music that people want to listen to, not force-fed down their throats, like algorithms and stuff. I want to make purposeful music, not just profitable music.”

His songs, and the way he talks about them, have a definite outsider, even outcast, feel. “Save Name,” the lead single on Trash, is a song about people who said that he would never be anybody, and in various ways asks: Will they remember his name when he does make it?

The discordant, clashing musical tracks reflect the turmoil of the emotions.

Growing up, he says, he listened to all kinds of music, classical, rock, pop, rap, jazz, Afro Cuban, punk — and the list could go on. There is no one he looks to as an influence. This is what he thinks makes him stand out as a musical artist.

“I don't really admit genres in my albums. Modern pop artists have full albums that sound like the same song over and over again. I'm trying to switch that up. And my songs average six minutes instead of two minutes, unlike the other guys. So, you get more of it.”

Another way he works to switch things up is in the way he looks at his albums — he has several out and plans to release one a year.

“When I make my stuff, I don't really see it as like a complete album. I just see it as a collection of singles.”

He plays all the instruments on his songs and lays down all the tracks. The drums are always the last instruments he records. Then he'll puts in the lyrics, which he writes. “Write,” however, is used loosely.

“I write lyrics down, but sometimes when I'm recording them I change some words, just to make it flow better, and I never go back and rewrite it in the written lyrics.” The actual recorded lyrics, therefore, are often not in print anywhere, and none are in print anywhere except in his own notebooks.

Spoke records all the music tracks first, with the percussion always last, and then the lyrics.

The About section on Spoke’s website ends with four questions: “Who is this Spoke? Why is he here? What does he want? How does he do? How will he affect you?”

Asked what the answers are, he says they are not supposed to have answers. They are supposed to make people think.

The same could be said of his music. In addition to being enjoyed, it is intended to make people feel.

Since he said, more than once, “I never plan on performing,” to see what Spoke’s music makes you feel, follow him on these platforms for new music, videos, and social posts:

Websites:
Spoke
Spotify

Socials:
Tiktok
Instagram
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