Before Terra Spencer started breaking hearts with concept albums full of failing relationships and failing mills, she was amassing a collection of songs of a far more humorous nature on her YouTube channel. The recently unearthed treasure trove includes the beginnings of Spencer’s career as a colourful songwriter, featuring songs ranging in topics from anti-vaxxers to all the foods we can’t eat anymore.
Standing out amongst the horde is Spencer’s “Email in a Coal Mine.” It’s a fine example of the proud Nova Scotian tradition of singing about coal mines, with a besmudged Spencer weighing the pros and cons of working underground when compared to the white collar purgatory of desk work.
“There has been a running joke in our household when someone complains about their desk job — ‘Have you ever considered coal mining?,'” says Spencer.
Spencer says that, at the time of writing the song, she was learning that “admin” work is the unspoken bane of independent artists — an unfortunately necessary part of the process that shackles the creativity.
The tone she takes in the videos is a decidedly different one from that on her 2019 album Other People’s Lives. Where there’s now a razor-sharp sense of devastation, there was a more easygoing side of Spencer’s razor-sharp wit.
“That was three years ago,” says Spencer, citing Randy Newman as her chief inspiration and source of both laughter and heartbreak. “At that point I only wrote goofy songs. I started writing songs in response to things people were arguing about on Facebook. The first ones were about food sensitivities, and vaccination, things like that. It was a cheeky way of joining the conversation.”
While Spencer says she’s not about to release an album full of sillier songs, she doesn’t rule it out entirely.
“I’m not one to say never. Maybe a live one someday. I like sad songs with loose ends, always have. I suppose that influence was bound to crop up somewhere. I don’t choose to listen to novelty songs — I feel like they are single-use. But, while touring with Ryan Cook, I would see crowds request LuLuLemon night after night.”
You can check out the rest of Terra Spencer’s comical canon on her YouTube Channel.