“Bracelet Of Teeth,” by Shay Spence, is a letter to Marcy, neither love note nor send-off, written out in a composition book and left on the bed, or maybe propped up on the kitchen counter. As the viewers of this production, we hear the soundtrack playing as the actors mime their solitary actions. But do we hear the song as the singer writes it, a closeup on the lines of the page as the pen inscribes the lyrics, or does the song play as Marcy stands erect with the camera panning upwards, holding the page before her and scanning her eyes left to right (our right-to-left)? Perhaps the scene begins with the writer and ends with the reader, the bridge and instrumental break occupied by a scene of a dog gamboling in a sunny meadow.

“Bracelet Of Teeth” begins solemnly, with vocals over a low organ. From there the song builds, getting hotter, simmering one tick short of a boil. The track is well-recorded with excellent instrumentation and lyrics that are worth copying from the back of the album cover.

marcy, I think you’re doing it on purpose
taking all my words and turning them to torches
and bending up my circuits
almost like a smile, almost like I’m worth it…

marcy, you’ve been writing out your thesis 
in disappearing ink, I don’t think I can read this 
but if I could say my peaces 
then we could paint the walls whatever baby pleases 

Those are tremendous lyrics. I love a songwriter who can express simple human emotions with a minimal poetry. Altogether, this is one of the best songs I’ve come across lately.

“Bracelet Of Teeth” is from Shay Spence’s new 4-track EP, With Fangs. All music, lyrics, instrumentation, and engineering were provided by Shay Spence. On her Bandcamp page, we learn that “Shay Spence lives in New York and is frontwoman to the fuzzy slacker band, Vassals. She previously lived in South Texas, Boston, and Los Angeles, where she was a sad kid, a college drop out and a warehouse ghost, respectively. She mostly writes about her dog and the moon. She is trans, queer and, most importantly, left-handed.”

OMG! Left-handed? Call the exorcist! And I sincerely hope that Marcy isn’t her dog, because I’m gonna look pretty silly if she is.

You can support deserving independent musicians like Shay Spence by visiting her Bandcamp page, listening to her music, and downloading your favorite tracks. And be sure to follow Shay Spence on Facebook, and Twitter, And don’t miss her website, Lefty Scissors.