All image credit: Chloe Helena Duff @chloehelenaduff
Spencer Mason has many a string to their bow. A poet. A writer. A producer. A musician. A damn creative soul. No doubt about that. Hailing from just outside Dundee – life has taken them in various directions. Geographically speaking from the Scottish lowlands down to arguably the capital of the North -Manchester. And back again, as they currently reside in Glasgow while continuing their studies with a Masters in Creative Writing.
I first came across Spencer in Manchester when I reviewed the ‘The Re-Dream Trilogy‘ EP released last year under the moniker – GhostStory. A record which explored the impact of mental health, social stigma and more through three incredibly candid tracks. And then there’s the published collection of poetry and prose titled ‘Other Tongues’ about their own experiences with Schizoaffective Disorder. Before that, band Incarnate was their vehicle for expression with abstract and uncomfortable performances which indulged in all mediums and genres. A running theme for this artist.
Late August saw the release of ‘a collection of ghost stories‘ – a seven-track record marking the end of one spooky era and the start of a new chapter in their musical journey. Last week, I sat down with Spencer – via Zoom – for a very long-awaited chat (thwarted more than thrice due to health, technological fails and of course dodgy WIFI) to discuss the recent release and what the future holds..
“I didn’t just want it to just be GhostStory. tracks that I felt half-hearted about”
Spencer Mason
CA: So Spencer, are we saying goodbye to GhostStory. for good?
SM: Yeah. We are. I think I hadn’t really been happy with GhostStory. for a long time. Or it was never actually meant to be my main music project. It was only ever gonna be like to experiment with tunes – almost to work on for fun alongside of doing Incarnate. And then when COVID came and I realised I was just gonna stick as a solo artist – it just didn’t make sense to be publishing writing and poetry and fiction and stuff under my name and then releasing music under a different name. So I think then was when the name GhostStory. became helpful in creating this collection. It felt like a good bridge of doing it. So yeah, I’m moving on to just releasing tunes under my own name.
CA: With this collection – you’ve got the couple of GhostStory. songs on there (‘Prometheus’ and ‘SPARTAN’), and then a few of your unreleased tracks. Tell me about those.
SM: ‘Listening to Joy’ was composed for an exhibition by a visual artist called Yinka Ilori – an amazing object and space designer. He was doing an exhibition through the V&A museums and he brought it to the one up in Dundee. They’d asked me to compose some music that they were gonna use for a workshop with kids. They had a day where they brought loads of kids and I did a sound workshop with them. A lot of the sounds in it are made from the exhibition and kids playing and being absolutely manic which I turned into the track.
And then ‘Crow of a Girl’ and I think a couple of the others were composed for a theatre company called Hidden Route. They do some really cool outreach stuff for kids who maybe don’t get the opportunity to be in theatre. But the two practitioners who run that brought me into theatre when I was 13. So it’s a really nice full circle that they asked me to get involved. It was a real joy.
CA: These tracks were chosen with real purpose and reason then?
SM: Yeah, and that reason just became – okay what are the favourite things I’ve worked on? Let’s not judge it on any other way than what did I enjoy the most ‘cause that’s why I started music y’know? I think because I’m moving on to something new, I didn’t just want it to just be GhostStory. tracks that I felt half-hearted about. I wanted to actually acknowledge everything I’ve done that I have really enjoyed and just like I guess savour it as a last loving memory rather than leaving it behind with a bitterness of “Well it didn’t really work out did it?”
CA: Can you tell me much about next year’s album?
SM: The album’s finished! I got the final masters back like two maybe three weeks ago. It’s really exciting.
CA: And this is working with charity Help Musicians?
SM: Yeah Help Musicians offered me the ‘Do It Yourself’ fund where you go to them about a project that’s a bit more experimental than anyone else might fund. And they were really keen for this idea of like a narrative album that’s gonna be matched with a novel that I’m doing on my course right now. Both of them are finished now.. like the novel’s got about two weeks of work and then that’s finished too! This was a plan like.. four years in the future maybe so it was a mad jump when they gave me this three-month deadline to get it finished like “Oh well, I didn’t think this was gonna happen!?”
CA: Like your previous work, will this be all your own production?
SM: Yeah it’s pretty much entirely my work. The mixing and mastering is done by a guy called Mattu who’s a Manchester producer and for the first time I had a couple of collaborations. There’s a track with Ashleigh who’s like this Scottish pop bop princess, she’s so cool man, we’re really good pals. I just went to her like “I want your voice on this track” even though we’re like totally different ball games. But she came round and did it in like an afternoon. It was so much fun.
CA: Any idea when the album will be released?
SM: It’s gonna be 2023 for sure. I *think* the first half. I think it’s gonna be a bit earlier than I thought because of the data wipe on my laptop! (See previously mentioned technological issues). I had two singles that I was gonna bring out before the album, and then I was gonna put out the album singles and that promo but I think we’re just gonna jump into it at the start of the year. First single I’m aiming for February and then I’m gonna aim for a Summer release maybe… we’ll see!
CA: It’ll soon come around!
SM: Oh I know! I used to always moan about time dragging. And now it’s never here!
CA: On that note – working on the album, the novel AND studying – how do you do it all?!
SM: I used to just wish I could stick to one thing. I would also think that if I was jumping between every thing I would never get good at one thing. But if you just keep jumping enough, you’ll get used to it. Eventually. I think I just find a lot of different things interesting.
CA: But then they all end up coming together, don’t they?
SM: Exactly. I think there’s so many barriers that people have put between different art forms, when actually they’re so close to one another. Like written poetry to spoken word poetry to rap – like that’s such a close gap. There’s storytelling in hip hop music, there’s storytelling in DJ sets. I think that was one of the main things in wanting to do the album and the novel together was to see how you could take one idea and how just putting it in a format changes it. From a musical album to a 300-page novel. There’s almost very little differences. It’s exciting I think. You can build worlds in totally different ways.
CA: Do you see yourself as something first and foremost? Or are you just many things?
SM: I get pegged as poet first and foremost… which I dunno.. I kinda subscribe to the Kae Tempest thing that’s like poetry is a not an action or a product. It’s just a way of thinking. So poet is not what I would go to.. maybe just a writer. Or a storyteller. Even if you’re composing music that doesn’t have words it still about taking someone on an emotional journey. You’re trying to make them believe in something. So yeah, I guess a storyteller… if that’s not too pretentious?
CA: I think ‘storyteller’ transcends format though like you say.
SM: Yeah it feels like the most versatile term that I could go for without sounding like a total dickhead.
CA: Will this new chapter of Spencer Mason be along the same vein as GhostStory.? Or would you say you’re rebranding?
SM: I’d say it’s along the same vein probably… but it finally makes sense. I feel like I’m getting rid of all of the parts that I’m not interested in anymore. So as much as it is a rebranding its also me accepting me being me.
CA: Stripping it right back?
SM: Yeah, exactly and I feel like the past 18 months or so have been such a big personal journey and loads of changes within that. I think it just feels like becoming the more honest version of myself rather than trying to create an image to attract people into.
CA: Would you say you’ve kept experimenting with genres on this new album?
SM: Oh big time. I’ve not shown anyone the full thing, but I did show a friend three or four tracks and they were like.. “Oh good, so it’s still creatively schizophrenic then?”
CA: Never going to be boring is it?
SM: Yeah I just think I see some artists that are really good at what they do but what they do is the same two songs twenty times. You’re not pushing yourself. Just try stuff. That’s the most exciting thing to me I think.
CA: You’re appealing to all different kinds of people. There’s a bit for everyone.
SM: Yes! I hope so! I’ve heard so many stories of people who hear rap music and that’s how they get into poetry. I really like the idea of – not in anyway that I would assume I could influence someone – but if someone heard the album because they knew there was a drum n bass track on it, but then there’s a punk track on it as well and they really get into that… then great. The more you widen your circles the more you realise that there’s no divides. There’s no barriers. Everything can make you feel something. It’s beautiful.
xo
You can follow Spencer on Spotify, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
cattface.com 