Spacey Jane – If That Makes Sense

Label: Concord
Released: 9th May 2025

Turns out emotional jet lag hits different when you’re trying to keep your succulents alive from 7,000 miles away. Spacey Jane’s third album chronicles their Los Angeles displacement with all the earnest uncertainty of a FaceTime call home that keeps dropping out.

The album opens strongly with ‘Through My Teeth’, a confessional wrapped in upbeat instrumentation that sets the tone for much of what follows. When Caleb Harper admits “I’ve been lying through my teeth again,” it lands with the weight of someone finally exhaling after holding their breath too long.

When they nail it, they really nail it. ‘Estimated Delivery’ turns shipping anxiety into relationship metaphors that would make Jeff Bezos emotional, while ‘All The Noise’ could soundtrack both your main character moment and the subsequent breakdown. Peppa Lane’s bass work throughout acts as an emotional stabiliser, keeping Harper’s vocal vulnerability from floating off into the LA smog.

Not everything lands as gracefully as intended. ‘How to Kill Houseplants’ wilts under its own metaphorical weight (“Water me darling, love is a garden”), while ‘Whateverrrr’ feels like reading your old MSN screen names, never quite transcending its deliberately petulant title.

The record finds its stride when the band embrace their evolution rather than fight it. ‘The More That It Hurts’ showcases their expanding songcraft with hooks sharp enough to catch feelings, while ‘August’ closes proceedings with the kind of hard-won hope you find at the bottom of a long-distance phone bill.

‘If That Makes Sense’ captures the peculiar displacement of being young and far from home, trying to repot yourself in foreign soil. It’s messy and uncertain, but then again, so is growing up. Sometimes, you have to let a few plants die to figure out which ones need watering.