Curious title, curious music, but extremely fascinating. Self recorded debut album from Spouses – Canadian Joel Durksen – is an enthralling listen.

LO-FI BUT CREATIVE

Spouses is the songwriting project of Iceland-based musician, sound engineer, and photographer, Joel Durksen. Joel was given an introduction to music at an extremely early age. Later in life his musical experiences were extremely mixed and elements of those times permeate his solo effort now. A seclusive, domestic life allowed him to set up an extremely low-fi studio but his musical knowledge and songwriting prowess make this album extremely professional and creative. The rawness of its production adds to the enjoyment value.

His remote Icelandic home where he set up his Kalfohlt studios and established his own label is reflected with short pieces opening, ending and fitting in between the tracks. These sonic explorations add not only a quirky element to his music but are part of the unique signature to his individually distinctive creations.

Rather than having a musical career dependent on other people’s ideas Joel says: “What I want is far more ineffable—the mystery of sitting down and trying to write something compelling to the human spirit. Simplicity. Writing about something that reflects my lived experience.”

SIMPLICITY MIXED WITH INNOVATION

Simplicity is what we hear on album opener Unsaid which reflects his formative experiences spent at a Roman Catholic school. Although the solemn opening of Crutch emphasises this simplicity he later explores a far more grungy sound and we begin to get a clearer picture of what Joel is all about.

In contrast to the dreamy vocals and simple melodic guitar chord structures, the clunky sonic effects surprise you as does the theme of real- life car crash tragedy. He seems to revel in lulling us with fragile vocals and acoustic guitar work then turning things on their head sometimes with keyboard manouevres on Choke or fuzzy guitar licks on Fish Hook.

QUAINT BUT PROFOUND

There is a quaint Syd Barrett quality to his songs and like him he can show delightful melody like in Beth one moment and be more dynamic rocky and inventive as on Splinter or as on final track Lazarus a choral backing ensues then concludes with some found sound effects from non musical objects which stem from the Nordic influence of his secluded recording environment appears with short pieces I can’t even begin to pronounce but provide a vehicle for his innovative musical explorations.

Joel’s music is a pleasant musical surprise from someone successfully providing us with something different.

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