Photo by Anna Haas
LISTEN: REMEMBER THE OXYGEN
Today, Boston-based singer/songwriter Spencer LaJoye has released their new EP Remember The Oxygen. The four-song concept album is about LaJoye’s truest self, and is the first EP under their new, truest name, written before, during, and following their coming out as transgender/non-binary.
Album opener ”'Breathing' is the story of LaJoye figuratively learning to breathe again. “When I remembered to breathe my own oxygen rather than meeting and anticipating everyone else’s needs first, I learned a lot of things (for one: I am not a girl. Oops!). It’s the story of me grabbing my own oxygen mask,” they explain. "This song told me a truth about myself before I even knew it was true.
The EP continues with “Where The Air Is Clearest,” a story about LaJoye’s childhood with their best friend, Chris. The song is about innocence, and losing that feeling when bullying and depression became a reality. It is an ode to the good times—and a plea to always remember them.
“Reclaiming myself as a nonbinary person was about so much more than gender.,” LaJoye explains of EP track “House Fires.” “To summon up the resolve to say 'these boxes aren’t for me,' I also had to say, 'these relationships aren’t for me, these systems aren’t for me, this people-pleasing disposition is not for me.' Ultimately, on the other side of all of that going up in flames, I found clarity and peace...and I’m still settling into who I am." "House Fires" is the story of deciding what parts of ourselves and our lives we hold onto when everything else burns.
WATCH: “HOUSE FIRES”
LaJoye wrote closer “Feast” one week after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg, where 11 people were killed, and one week before LaJoye was to plan a ceremony for that year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, to honor 22 people who had been murdered in documented transphobic hate crimes in the US that year. Most were, and continue to be, trans women of color, and the number of trans lives lost to anti-trans violence has increased every year since then. “This song came out of me thinking about the ways we remember those who have gone before us (it often involves food),” LaJoye says. “It’s about remembering. And paying tribute.”
With Remember The Oxygen, LaJoye documents them becoming who they really are, a journey that involved just as much looking to the past as it did moving towards the future.“As it turns out, I knew who I was from the very beginning,” says LaJoye. “I knew how to breathe all along. To re-becoming myself. I just had to let some things burn, let some things hurt, and finally, remember my own oxygen.”
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Spencer LaJoye’s dynamic acoustic tones and layered vocals are reminiscent of melancholic 60s folk songs - but their genre-bending doesn’t end there. Resonant vocal loops spin these classic sounds into delightfully boppy pop songs that are both mesmerizing and haunting with their detailed, autobiographical lyrics.
LaJoye is a folk/pop singer-songwriter, violinist, and vocal loop artist who has garnered a growing fan base around the world through live performances, live streams, and an ever-increasing loyal Patreon community. Charming, humorous, and acutely self-aware, their live performances leave audiences crying, laughing, and wanting more.
One of eight in a family of musicians in rural Southwest Michigan, LaJoye picked up a violin at the age of five, and pursued classical music until college, when they swapped their bow for a pen. They wrote their first EP as a closeted queer kid in a historically conservative Christian college while pursuing a degree in theology. Their songwriting and theologizing became tools of self-empowerment amid a culture of shame. Now an outspoken nonbinary bisexual, LaJoye’s goal is to foster a life-affirming community through music and to “bring people to church” at their shows.
Their first EP We’ve Been That Way Before won the WYCE Jammie Award for Listener’s Choice in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and most recently, LaJoye was chosen as a winner of the 2021 Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition.
Remember The Oxygen is available for purchase via iTunes and for streaming on all platforms. Be sure to follow Spencer LaJoye at the links below for all the latest news and updates.
REMEMBER THE OXYGEN TRACKLIST
BREATHING
WHERE THE AIR IS CLEAREST
HOUSE FIRES
FEAST