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 twenty albums of original pop music, two front-to-back covers records, and one album of long-form experimental pieces. 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. 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 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 on the West Coast US, 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