Photo Credit: DH Jacobs

Armed with the imagination of a partner and a couple of kids ready to craft, Call Me Spinster got to work on their eye-catching video, “Burn the Boxes.” The video is as bright as the streets of Sesame, and the song itself is a brightly serene delight. We talked not only about how this visual came to be, but also about Orlando airports, upcoming shows, and whether or not they treated their 2024 release via Strolling Bones Records, ‘Potholes,’ like most parents do a second child. All that and then some await below…

Kendra: ‘Potholes’ was guided a lot by growth in regards to transitioning into a new stage of adulthood with marriage and children. When did you start to notice that those new aspects of your lives were influencing how you approached writing? 

Rosie: We didn’t actually start writing songs until this phase of life, period. The first song we wrote was “Here You Are,” which was about the birth of Amelia’s first kid. I think there is something very powerful about the psychedelic, creative rubble of childbirth and early marriage and all of that – it’s sort of where the rubber meets the road in reckoning with existence, life, and death, what happens on the other side of the veil. Time is also so warped and weird – standing still and then ramping up at breakneck speed. Songwriting has been a very precious means of trying to make sense of all of this and stay sane in the sleepless haze. 

Kendra: My mom always says you can spot new parents because they often do the most and overthink because everything is so new, but with their second child, it’s like – whatever, let them roam in the wild. Would you say that’s comparable to how you approached your self-titled EP vs 2024’s ‘Potholes,” like you allowed yourselves to relax a little more with this one?

Amelia: Ha – I love that. I definitely have a semi-feral second human child. I think there’s a good bit of truth to that analogy as well. Our EP was very precious – partly because we were so brand new to songwriting, recording, and even playing our instruments – but also due to the nature of Covid-era projects. We recorded some bass tracks in the studio but had to finish recording and mixing at home, which became a hugely drawn-out process with hours of online recording tutorials, back and forthing with our producer, etc. It was an amazing learning opportunity, but a sort of terrible cocktail of being both new to the process and not really having a deadline, no tour to prepare for, etc. – so we nitpicked and labored for a long, long time. 

With ‘Potholes,’ we went into the studio with the songs much more fully baked and were all on the same page about allowing each song to be what it was – a stripped-down, acoustic folk song, a sprawling, synthy mess, what have you. We recorded a lot of it live, in minimal takes. We still finished a good portion of the vocals and overdubs at home but we were much more comfortable with letting the final product feel as raw and home-baked as it is.    

Kendra: Let’s talk about “Burn the Boxes,” because it’s such a fun song, such a great listen. Other than the airport in Orlando, what transpired that helped lead to this song coming to life? 

Rachel: Aw, thanks! We usually play it as a closer at shows and make everyone sing the chorus with us – it’s always fun and cathartic. Alfredo and I were in the beginning stages of their relationship, and I think the origin was, yes, an obligatory trip to Florida, and the need to establish a sort of playfully anarchist approach to a new relationship. Like, “I’m down for the ride, but we’re not going to do it in the tired-ass, traditional way.” 

As the song grew that attitude transcended into a more macro attitude about institutions that were very much being torn down and questioned at the time, not to mention a very literal pileup of delivery boxes during the rise of the pandemic – this was spring/summer of 2020. 

Kendra: And the video?! As someone who religiously watched MTV’s TRL daily growing up, I will always appreciate when artists take the time to visually conceptualize. I know a sleepy husband came up with the concept, but are there any artists you all channel when the camera turns on and it’s time to record the videos?

Amelia: Ah, it was so fun to make. We didn’t intend to make a video – we had way maxed out our music video budget/brains but ended up getting the idea that morning at like six am and putting it together in a single day. We used a dollhouse my six-year-old is continually retro-fitting with homemade furniture. We got a pretty sweet family assembly line going for cardboard instrument-crafting, had built some paper sets by mid-afternoon – it was a quick and dirty operation.  

We’ve found almost every time that the process of making a video for our songs – especially in the evolving, DIY way we typically approach it – deepens or shifts our understanding of the song in an unexpected way. There is something very childlike about “Burn the Boxes” – it has both a technicolor and almost tantrum-y vibe that I don’t think we had explored much before. The process of literally ripping apart and reusing cardboard boxes to make something haphazard and beautiful – under the close supervision of a six-year-old creative director – felt very fitting. 

In terms of visual inspiration, one of our primary gurus is the French band Les Ritas Mitsouko. Their videos “Marcia Baila” and “Andy” are a huge factor in my secret desire to be in a band in the first place. My husband and I have incorporated visual art projects into the band since the beginning – conceiving of video concepts, editing together, designing merch and posters. Now we’re printing our first round of tee shirts designed by our six-year-old. I have a feeling many of our children will be important creative forces in the family art collective in the future. 

Kendra: Also, please tell me that the set pieces were kept and stored? 

Rosie: Yes, thanks to Amos! Amelia wanted to burn them as part of the video, but Amos was horrified and came up with the stop-motion paper flame idea as an alternative. We’ll have them available as props in a DIY photo booth at our record release show in Chattanooga. 

Kendra: Now come April and May, you do have some shows already lined up and ready to go. From Nashville to Tennessee – are these all-new spots you’ll be hitting during this Spring run? 

Rachel: We’ll be playing a mix of favorite local spots and some new ones. We’ll be doing weekend jaunts around the Southeast throughout April and May – Proud Larry’s in Oxford, MS, a few festivals in Atlanta and Athens, GA, the Nick in Birmingham. We’ll also be doing a two-week run in the Midwest where we’re from, so looking forward to playing a new venue in Minneapolis, and a bunch of great spots in Wisconsin and Chicago with our friend Julia Blair. 

Kendra: Time for a side note – With it being April, I’m asking everyone to think of a pair of tickets to any concert ever that they’d want to find in their Easter basket. Artists can be living or dead, past or present. Which concert or tour would you have loved to see? 

Rosie: We all missed seeing Prince live, which feels especially sad and shameful as Minnesotans. I think a First Ave show – or I think it was called “Sam’s” back then – when Prince, Morris Day and the Time, Sheila E, etc. were reigning supreme on that Minneapolis scene – that would be a hands-down winner. 

Kendra: Lastly, with ‘Potholes’ out on April 12th and some dates already booked – what else can fans expect as 2024 rolls on?

Amelia: Rosie is expecting band baby #5 in July, so we’ll take a little hiatus from shows after the summer tour. It can be really hard for us to switch between the modes of playing out and songwriting, so summer and fall will be a perfect opportunity to keep writing and incubating recording baby #3, which we have already started and hope to finish recording this year.