Call Me Spinster Q&A: the making and meaning behind “Here You Are”
Bathtubs, boomwhackers and babies — you wouldn’t know it, but these three seemingly random things all are a part of the recipe that makes up the infectious pop-folk twisted sound that is the self-titled EP, “Call Me Spinster.”
The trio that really brings the recipe together though are the sisters that make up the group, Amelia Graber Jacobs, Rachel Graber and Rosalie Graber. Hailing from Saint Paul, Minnesota, the girls made their way to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they began singing covers. They have now released their first EP that beautifully tells the story of various human connections through voices that are enchanting, harmonic and nostalgic.
Born in a pandemic, this EP carries a special quality of comfort and authenticity that came right when it was needed most.
Gracing the record’s cover is a bathtub occupied by one Rosalie Graber whose feet peek out over the edge. This marks a wonderful coincidence, connecting the music back to the location where the music of this EP was born — in Amelia’s bathtub.
The story behind this EP is rich and beautiful, and though the sisters are all different in their own ways, it demonstrates the power of connection, not just through blood, but through music.
If we were to look at the artists you are listening to, who would be on your playlist?
Amelia: spaghetti western and old Bollywood music.
Rachel: Lord Heron, Alabama Shakes, Björk, Air, The Seratones, The Overcoats, and The Aces.
Rosalie: Rachel’s yoga playlist (mix of pop music and feel-good instrumentals).
What about your music gives it a unique sound?
Using the accordion as a base, the group’s instrumentation is what they say sets them apart.
“The slightly unusual thing is that they're all very folky instruments, but we really like pop music, and we like a good beat,” said Amelia.
Rachel gave Rosalie an upright bass for her birthday after she got out of college, and from there, the sisters began experimenting. When it comes to instruments, nothing is off-limits for this group — not boomwhackers or even Rosalie’s gasoline can. Yes, you read that right.
Aside from their instruments, Rosalie credits their blood harmonies as a distinguishing factor, with Rachel adding that their songwriting contributes too.
“Even though we're related, the songs have a lot of different influences, because we all have different influences,” said Rachel.
How did it feel to be able to make and put out music during the pandemic?
The recording process for this EP started right before the pandemic hit and Call Me Spinster finished it while in quarantine together, working remotely with producer Drew Vandenberg. Recording in the pandemic gave the group the opportunity to fully devote themselves to every aspect of this EP, and with that came overwhelming potential.
“The pro of that [recording in a pandemic] is that we had this incredible time to just zero in and just micromanage and do every little thing. But the con, of course, is that we're so in our heads, and so, you know, there is no limit,” said Rachel.
The music video for their single “Here You Are” was made extra special due to this climate. The band invited family and friends to come in with their quarantine pods to be filmed while they danced around to the song. Sharing this video which is based around joy and connection was important to the band at this time and went hand in hand with this song that is about feeling an intense connection to someone.
What does this EP mean to you?
This EP marked a significant milestone in the group’s career as it was the first time the band transitioned from performing cover music to writing and recording their own original music. It was also reflective of big life changes in the ladies’ lives, following Rosalie and Rachel’s move to Chattanooga and Amelia’s entrance into motherhood.
The experience of recording while in a pandemic adds another layer of sentimentality to the release of the EP. While the pandemic may have made the recording of the EP harder, it also made it all the more special as it encapsulated their time recording together from home.
What does “Here You Are” as a song mean to you?”
Amelia wrote “Here You Are” after having her first child.
“It was about, you know, this moment of meeting a person that you feel like you ought to be very familiar with or that should be kind of primordial soup and not a very important human yet, and then they come out and then they seem like this like old soul that's traveled from a different dimension, and you feel like you should like shake their hand and introduce yourself,” said Amelia on the interview Zoom call as her baby, Frankie, bounced and cooed in her arms. “It's just the most surreal moment I think I've had in my life.”
“The whole process of becoming a mother was very, kind of, extra-terrestrial,” said Amelia. “A lot of my songwriting, my early songwriting, has just been sort of wrapping my mind around that, or lack thereof maybe, and getting my mind blown by that and trying to share that feeling.”
Since then, Rosalie says that “people have applied [the song] to other experiences, just meeting people that they felt like they've met and known for forever or felt like they should have known and have this divine connection to.”
What was the writing process like for you?
“Here You Are” was the first song Amelia ever wrote. She said they were intimidated by the prospect of writing songs, so her husband recommended writing in the bathtub.
”We started making an assignment out of going to the bathtub and not coming out until we had at least a little something,” said Amelia.
“Here You Are” was the result of one of these bathtub sessions.
Why did you choose this song to discuss today?
“I think for me, it's because it's sort of emblematic of our beginning,” said Rachel. “It's about new life, and I think of our band as kind of a new sort of timestamp of really being a band, instead of just being sisters that happen to get together and play music sometimes for various cousin weddings.”
Amelia said “Here You Are” also represents what brought them together because it is rooted in the birth of her first child, Amos, and his birth is what really pulled the sisters together.
“Rachel was living in Costa Rica, and Rosie was living in Portland, Oregon and I was living here in Chattanooga. And when the baby came, the girls were like, ‘Alright, we're moving, we're going to be in the same place, we're going to start a band while you're on maternity leave, at least for a year,’” said Amelia.
Are there any lines in “Here You Are” that particularly stand out to you or that you are most proud of?
“‘I see your face and forget to ask it, galaxy in the tiny basket,’ that pops into my brain all the time because that feeling is so visceral for me,” said Rachel. “It's usually like an overwhelmed feeling of just like being so happy to see someone that you're like, ‘am I just so happy to see you or was there something I urgently needed to tell you?’”
What does “Here You Are” bring to this EP as a collective work?
Amelia said that “Here You Are” brings to the EP a modern twist on the girl doo-wop sound that they love and continue to write songs in the vein of.
“I think that a lot of the songs in the EP have elements of a throwback vibe, but have some feeling of modernity as well,” said Amelia.
What are your musical plans for the next 12 months or so?
“We have these covers in the oven, and a Christmas song as well,” said Rachel. “We're kind of going inward in that process and doing some reinventing of our live sounds while we're simultaneously working towards getting those covers in ship, shipshape.”
The goal for the group right now is to get back to Athens to begin recording a full-length record in January of 2022.
“We're working out these songs, both in their live capacity and trying to expand the band a little bit to sort of broaden our sound,” said Amelia. “A really cool thing about the EP is that it kind of exploded us out of, you know, our threesome of accordion and banjo and bass, into these other instruments, and some of those sounds we've become really attached to and we don't have enough hands to play even though we've tried.”
“I would love to tour because we really still haven't gotten to tour on the EP yet, so if that's something that we can get together by the summer or even fall of next year, we can see what it feels like to bring a one-year-old and a five-year-old on the road,” said Rosalie laughing.