Terra Spencer has a big soft spot for cotton mills, though one cotton mill clearly stands out in particular. The crumbling brick figure of the cotton mill looms large over the identity of Terra Spencer’s hometown of Windsor, Nova Scotia and has found its way into her music on more than one occasion.
With the news that the roof had collapsed on the 140-year old landmark, it brought the building’s longevity squarely into question and the heart of Spencer’s new song, “Brick and Mortar” which she describes as a “heart-charged meditation on the gentle art of saying goodbye.”
Windsor’s cotton mill isn’t the only old friend to make an appearance in the song. “Brick and Mortar” also sees Spencer reunited with Halifax artists Stewart Legere in this duet, plus the addition of jazz trombonist Andrew Jackson.
Legere had previously joined Spencer on the track “Cotton Mill” on her 2019 album, Other People’s Lives. Both songs present a complicated Gordian knot about the complications of relationships—even those we have with landmarks—and the often impermanent role they play in our lives.
“During the pandemic, I found that friends and strangers in my life felt an unprecedented need to talk about loss in many forms – of loved ones, of opportunities, of identity. In its lifetime, this building in Windsor has been a symbol of prosperity, and hope, but as time and circumstance continue to wear it down, its days seem to be numbered,” explains Spencer. “Picking up the stray threads of the song ‘Cotton Mill’, Brick and Mortar is about the resignation of having to let dreams go.”
Returning to record at Sonic Temple, where she also turned out her recent album Chasing Rabbits—currently nominated for Music Nova Scotia Folk Recording and Americana/Bluegrass Recording of the Year—Spencer recognized she needed to record this song as a live-off-the-floor duet with Legere before she had even finished writing it.
“Before I’d finished writing the song, I could hear Stewart’s voice. He is a truly gifted singer; the spectrum of colour and emotion in his voice just overwhelms me every time. And during lockdown, I’d seen videos of Andrew Jackson playing cover songs with these gorgeous stacked trombone harmonies. I was craving the sound and experience of human beings making music together in a room, especially for a song that focuses on the hunger for connection.”
As usual, Spencer tugs away at the heartstrings and makes us question what, and who, she’s really singing about. But then again, maybe it’s possible to love a 140-year-old brick building just that much.
“Brick and Mortar” will be reimagined for Terra Spencer’s upcoming album that she is currently recording with producer and international performing artist Ben Caplan. The album is set for release with a cross-Canada tour in April 2022.