Spencer Krug has released Same Fangs, a solo record built around piano and expanded with percussion, a string ensemble, and backup singers. The album collects songs originally written as standalone tracks for his Patreon page during a quiet, stationary period in his life.
Krug first drew attention in Montreal’s early-2000s scene with Wolf Parade, and he has since formed multiple bands, reworked his solo persona around piano and voice, and lived in several countries. His catalog continues to widen, while the weight of his voice and writing has remained steady.
Writing Without a Master Plan
On the idea of purposefully “incorrect” elements in his work, Krug said he is not sure if those choices are intentional or just his natural inclination. He added that noticing such details demands a close listen.
“I’m not totally sure what you mean by ‘incorrect,’ but if you mean when I might steer a song off track, break the fourth wall, choose an ugly word, etc. in an attempt to keep the music from becoming too predictable, then I appreciate that.”
Krug said the songs on Same Fangs were not built around an overarching goal or theme. They were written during a stretch when the only major disruption was the resurrection and subsequent reburial of Sunset Rubdown.
“The songs kind of oscillate between those two things: middle-age, small town/rural family life, and then what it means to be in a band.”
He described the musical throughline as piano and the thematic throughline as bittersweetness.
Process and Boundaries
Krug said he is more a “picker-upper of threads” than a writer with a predetermined message or style. Starting with small ideas and following first instincts, he layers and varies material until it becomes palatable.
“I am more a picker-upper of threads, for sure. I think that’s half the fun of songwriting, discovering what a song wants to be and then helping it get there in the most musical way possible. If I have some specific, predetermined message or style in mind before sitting down at the piano, I run a higher risk of making something that sounds forced, which is terrible.”
“Spontaneous decisions lead to music with a spirit of spontaneity woven into it, which is probably way more fun to listen to.”
Krug said the limitations and parameters of each project make writing for them simple. If he is writing for a band, he thinks of that lineup and instrumentation, though he said that rarely happens now. More often, he brings near-finished demos to a group and lets the collective add its own character.
“That’s the fun of bands, they’re all so different.”
For solo work, he sets boundaries before starting, often restricting instruments or process. He is currently leaning more analog in his backyard studio, avoiding screens and soundwaves and using outboard effects.
“For a brain like mine, limitations are necessary. As a chronic overthinker, I don’t do well with too many choices.”
Metaphor and Lyric Approach
Asked what animal might represent the music on Same Fangs, Krug chose a turtle. He said it is slow, instinct-driven, and seemingly deliberate, with soft, vulnerable music underneath and an impenetrable shell of lyrics he refuses to compromise.
“A turtle? Haha. It’s slow. Instinct-driven, yet seemingly deliberate in its movements. It’s soft and vulnerable underneath (that’s the music, where I’m most impressionable and open to suggestion) but with an impenetrable shell it can hide under (that’s the lyrics, the IDGAF part of my songs that I refuse to compromise.)”
He added that the shell could also be Pronounced Kroog, the do-it-yourself label he created for solo work, which none of the old “same serpents” can pierce with their fangs.
On lyrics, Krug said he does not intentionally leave things to chance, except when rhyme dictates meaning. He noted that a word like “violence” can change a song’s direction simply because it rhymes with “silence.”
“I just had to look up ‘aleatoricism’ lol. Leaving things up to chance? I’m not sure I do that. Except maybe sometimes when I’ve decided I want things to rhyme. I think it’s kind of funny how rhyme can dictate meaning, by how the end of the second line is so restricted by whatever random word ends the first line. In that way entire meanings of songs can change, just because ‘violence’ rhymes with ‘silence,’ for example. I guess that’s playing with chance.”
