Spencer Kingman's only physical release to date is one half of a double album with Viking Moses, released in 2005 by Marriage Records. Of the songs on this short, quiet and little known record, Kingman says:

"I never intended to record them or play them for anyone but my friends. However, these friends (mostly musicians) were persistent about recording me and offering me shows."

His lyrics alternate between the strange and the plainly indecipherable. Still, Spencer Kingman's innate earnestness frees even the most eccentric lines from any sense of gratuity. Instead we feel party to an intimate, peculiarly narrative monologue of humanness, Vietnam-nostalgia and Lord knows what else. All the while Kingman's intricate fingerpicking feels tight and distinctive, his vocal melodies equally inventive and infectiously catchy. There's no production to speak of, but you don't miss it.

"Brendon Massei had some extra time and some extra tape, and he said we should get them down while we had the nice studio. I complied and played through my songs. It took about 25 minutes and then we went home."

Notes

The press release for Spenking mentions "Spencer Kingman - Is Orange Birds (Marriage Records V/A)." What's that?

There are several songs on his MySpace not on the just-discussed record (sounding fantastic). New record soon, right Spencer? Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.