Spencer Owen is open. Of course, he is actually a lot of things: an immensely talented composer, a gifted singer, a prolific recording-artist, and a normal guy with a family and friends... but he is also the rhythmystical, pan-genrestic, home-taping hurricane of lo-fi R&B, indie-rock, art-pop, slow-jams, and experimentalism... or something like that.

Since 2003, Spencer has arranged and recorded twelve albums of original pop music, two front-to-back covers records, and one album of long-form experimental pieces [see “discography” section for details]. He always plays all the instruments, and usually starts giving the music away for free the second he finishes the last song. Most of his albums are available for free download on the most admirable Archive.org.

Praise of Spencer’s formidable musical talent and expansive catalogue is justified, but the real significance of his work is somehow harder to define. Notions of naiveté and sincerity have long been exploited in the indie scene, even sometimes treated like genres themselves. On the surface, these terms may seem to apply to Spencer Owen and his tunes; yet Spencer’s true gift for invention does not come from baby-faced optimism, or Forrest Gumpéd savantism, but instead from an openness. When Spencer sits behind the drums, or with a guitar on his lap (he plays like that because it reminds him of a piano, his first instrument), surprise and concentration flood his face as he plays, and his hands move with wonder and intention, giving the impression that the fretboard is lighting up for his eyes only, like some highly melodic game of Simon. Song flows through him in earnest, stopping briefly along the path of musical history to be flavored with references to the artists Spencer admires most (Diblo Dibala, Prince, Laurie Anderson, R. Kelly, Lee "Scratch" Perry, The Boredoms, etc.), but these references serve only to decorate Spencer’s music so that the rest of us can get close to it... while the core of his songs remain ineffable, and deeply moving, sonically and emotionally unique.

Spencer Owen has contributed significantly to all fiveBird By Snow records, and performed on "Eternal" by Sean Smith, deeply ingraining him in the Gnome Life universe. Spencer has toured extensively with Bird By Snow, up and down the West Coast, and he joined the whole Gnome Life crew when we took Europe by thunder-storm November 2007 with shows in Spain, Iceland, and Sweden.

For even more information on Spencer Owen please visit these pages: on Soundcloud, MOG, & his other label. Spencer handles his own booking, contact him here: swimmo(at)gmail.com