BIOGRAPHY

Rae Spoon is a non-binary performer, composer, music producer, visual content producer/director and author based on the territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples in Victoria, BC. They believe that the arts are an ecology not a business; That making space for other people’s stories (especially marginalized people) is more important than personal fame; That building community is opposite of loneliness. Rae supports other artists in forging their own spaces through industry workshops, sound recording, mentorship, grant writing and music production.

Rae is currently in recovery from cancer treatment. Some ways to support them and upcoming projects are:

• On January 6, 2021 Rae is releasing a digital book of sheet music and music for 109 songs. 4 of the albums are early releases and only available in this collection. Pre-order Rae Spoon Songbook from Coax Records here.

• They have hired someone to run their 100% profit to artists record label, Coax Records, while they’re in treatment. You can support Coax Records through their Patreon.

• You can find their current writing about their experiences on their Medium Column.

• Rae is finalizing their first novel with illustrator Gems Butler, Green Glass Ghosts, that’s slated for publication by Arsenal Pulp Press in Spring 2021.

Rae has been producing recordings since 2001 ranging from folk to indie rock and electronic and has been producing music for other artists since 2008. and have released ten solo albums. Rae has toured internationally over the past twenty years and they have been nominated for two Polaris Prizes and a Western Canada Music award. They have co-directed and or produced four music videos. They currently run a collaborative recording mobile recording studio (meaning that the artists get to sit at the computer and find sounds they like in the DAW if they want) called Biome Arts.

Rae Spoon is the subject and composer in the NFB documentary-musical, My Prairie Home. Set against majestic images of the infinite expanses of the Canadian Prairies, the film features Spoon crooning about their queer and musical coming of age. Interviews, performances and music sequences reveal Spoon’s inspiring process of building a life of their own, as a trans person and as a musician.

In 2015, Rae founded Coax Records in the hopes of using their experience as a marginalized artist to create more space in the music industry. They aim to build community where artists from lots of backgrounds can share their music on their own terms while learning how to support each other. Coax Records has released thirty-nine albums by twenty-eight artists many of whom have received a lot of media attention, won Juno Awards and been nominated for Polaris Prizes.

Rae’s first book, First Spring Grass Fire, was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2012. The book was a finalist for a Lambda Award in the Transgender Fiction category and was shortlisted for an Expozine Alternative Press Award. In the spring of 2014, Rae was awarded a Honour of Distinction by the Dayne Ogilvie Prize, presented by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. Rae’s second book, co- written with Ivan E. Coyote and titled Gender Failure, was published in 2014. Gender Failure was on the 2015 Over The Rainbow Reading List and was translated into German. In 2017, Rae also published a humorous song-writing instructional booklet, How To (Hide) Be(hind) Your Songs.

Quotes:

“Rae Spoon is one of the most important musicians working in Canada today.” – Now Magazine

“The mark of a gifted songwriter is the ability to create the most emotion with the fewest notes. Rae Spoon is a master of restraint, conveying both hope and hurt at once through simple melodies.” – Exclaim!

“Armour: synths and electronic percussion alongside guitars and Spoon’s evergreen vocals, melodic pop and sharply drawn verses, hope and despair.” – The Toronto Star

“With Armour, Rae Spoon has recorded one of the best albums of the year, and made a very strong case that they’re one of best, and most important, songwriters in Canada. Perfect electronic pop songs that groove, tear at your heart, and seek to create real change.” – Silent Shout

“One of Canada’s best songwriter.” – Aesthetic Magazine

“Spoon’s poignant, raw musicality paired with their evocative, powerful vocals have spoken to Canadians across the nation.” – The Gateway

“The album, Spoon’s eighth solo release, is another stellar electro-based offering of dreamy, rounded and sweetly pleasing pop with, as always, an aftertaste of pretty melancholia.” – Calgary Herald

“Steeped in personal themes and experience, Spoon’s body of work is truly singular.” – The Concordian

“Spoon is an ever-evolving, distinctive experimental artist.” – The Overcast

“The haunting, lovely tunes speak for themselves.” – British Film Institute

“Queer-positive, electronic-pop-infused.” – The Stranger