The Spares

Beautiful and Treacherous Thing

(Tweed)

Record Review by Alexis Roberts

The Spares are calling themselves Americana, but that is a sneaky cover-up for what they really are: COUNTRY. If The Spares were being honest with themselves, they would give up the indie rock facade and try to sell records within their own demographic which is country music, whether they like it or not. For goodness sake, they even won an award in 2006 from the International Academy of Independent Arts for best song in the country category.

We all tend to associate country music with trucks, tractors, straw cowboy hats and wives running off with brothers or cousins. The Spares gripe in a much more creative and less obvious manner than say Billy Ray Cyrus. Their music isn’t dressed up in pink cowboy boots and a hoop skirt ready for the freaking square dance, it’s more like the music you accidentally tune into on some random station when you are driving through the Texas Panhandle and you let it play because you actually kind of like it. (Note: The Spares are actually not from the south; they reside in Chicago.) Beautiful and Treacherous Thing is dressed down, simplistic and acoustic. Jodee Lewis (not to be mistaken for Jenny Lewis) has vocals reminiscent of Michelle Branch or Vanessa Carlton, and she’s a natural fit for these songs.

Somewhere down the long and winding road I see The Spares gaining some momentum among fans of artists like SHeDAISY and Carrie Underwood. The honesty of The Spares’ music is what fans will latch onto. My personal prediction is that, as unfortunate as it may be, they are just too country for the indie community to handle. We may like to dress like cowboys in the boots and plaid shirts but don’t make us put our money where our wardrobes are.