Spencer Hoffman

His debut album, Apple Core, which he self-recorded during the pandemic, sounds nothing like the cold isolation of quarantine. Rather, the gorgeous melodies and literary references are a celebration of the togetherness of humanity. After completing an albums worth of songs, they found their way to Melina Duterte (Jay Som) who went to work on mixing the album. “Melina and the community around me really championed the record and made me feel that it was worth pursuing and sharing,” says Spencer. 
 "All these pieces of the moon/ I can't carry them anymore" he sings in the opening track, and it sets off a rumination on all the ways our fractured self-image is thrown back at us. Hoffman is the steady hand on the tiller as we sail into turbid waters. Hoffman sings in "Song of Innocence" how he dreamed of experiencing a failure that was so obvious and definitive that he could accept letting go of his musical dreams forever. Fortunately, instead of letting go of that dream, he sailed us right into it. 
 -Nick Jaina