Utah-based singer-songwriter, Spencer Sanders, has taken his music and lyricism to soaring new heights with the release of his latest record, Almanac. With a familiar cadence and glint of Noah Kahan, Orville Peck, and Taylor Swift, this openly queer artist’s collection of songs are stories of weathering life, carried on an enchanting voice with instrumentals delving deep into the sonic backdrop of transience, self discovery, and gathered analysis of life’s highs and lows. Almanac explores the stretches of uncertainty between grieving and healing, growth and loss, and deconstructing religous idealism. A folk-pop shaped hand to hold on a cloudy day, this album is a friend you’d call when you need perspective of pattern and season, rain or shine.
The climate of the record kicks off with the song, “Rust.” Ripe with vulnerability of real world experience comes the opening chimes of an actual music box referenced in this story of heartache, trust lost. “I say it’s not enough to pretend that we’re golden, we’re not,” sings Sanders. “You show me that behind your shine, there’s rust.” As softly as it starts, it effortlessly progresses into the belting talents Spencer Sanders makes evident throughout the album. Originally released as a single in 2024, “Rust” acts a decisive opener for both aesthetic of the metaphor, but also a particular vein of earthy folk stylings Spencer revisits with the rest of Almanac to follow.
Sanders’ musicianship and storytelling prowess doesn’t slow and end with tracks like “Rust.” Tracks as cohesive and complementary on Almanac include “Someday Soon,” “Song of the Morning,” and the titular track, “Almanac” to speak to Spencer’s perspectives of striving for a life to be built with meaning despite the heartache along the way. Just as the tides of life ebb and flow in life, Spencer sings through a velvet burning heart on “Someday Soon” that strikes in a key of yearning familiarity many queer folks sing in hearts of their own. Poetic and sweet, he sings, “Share this with me, what I find in you makes me believe that someday soon the world will find some room for me and you to build a life that lovers do.”
“Almanac” is a cornerstone example of what the strong bones of songwriting sound like, beginning with just soothing vocals and piano as the production slowly blooms into a territory of gentle texture to accentuate its. Naturally escalating into a world of luscious harmony, “Almanac” speaks to the heart of the album, to the heart of the listener intended for this love letter of sorts. “No almanac could prepare you for this weather, dressed in boots and a coat and your favorite sweater. It’s the kind of bone chill that runs you through, til there’s none of the summer left in you.” More than just an album thesis explained, this Spencer Sanders displays bone-chilling, nearly romantic texture of gentle sonic envelopment that guarantees you’re not alone.
The vast stretch of discovery that sits between the chilling tragedies and the loving warmth Spencer Sanders sings of traversing isn’t distracting from the impressive instrumentals; rather, it’s accentuated by his ability to craft a bigger musical and philosophical perspective. Through the highs, the haunts, and the heartache of the world, Spencer’s weathering has become a literal art and a guiding light from an open heart.
“It’s an almanac because it gathers all those moments—the highs, the lows, and the in-between—into one place so I can see the patterns clearly, and maybe help someone else feel less alone in their own weather.” – Spencer Sanders
Much like parting ways with the wise and gentle friend you could sit with and talk to for hours about anything with, there comes the bittersweet end of the album. Arrangement excellence and a final love letter of sorts, “Healing” is a song of promise and hope for what wounds can finally close, resilience and strength gained (and given). Long before this track plays as the final song for Almanac, it’s been a clear and pleasurable experience to listen to the stories shared with a truly beautiful voice. As the weather of life continues to unpredictably change from moment to moment, all we can hope for is another season of future releases from Spencer Sanders.
For more Spencer Sanders, check out his music videos on YouTube, or listen on Apple Music and Spotify.
written by Samson Winsor
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