Canadian singer-songwriter Andrew Spice has released his long-awaited second album With Animals, arriving an astonishing 22 years after his 2002 debut Pretty Demons. While the obvious next step would have been a quick follow-up, life took Spice in a different direction: instead of chasing a music career, he trained and built a practice as a clinical psychologist. Now, more than two decades later, he has found his way back to music with a record that fuses both sides of his journey—artist and healer.
Andrew Spice
The spark to return came when close friend and fellow musician Emm Gryner encouraged him to write a one-minute song during a difficult period. That exercise led to Gentle Sentinel, a moving tribute to his late cat Bea, which now stands as a cornerstone of With Animals. From there, Spice discovered a new creative urgency, using songwriting as a tool for processing grief, anger, love, and identity.
The album’s focus track, Junk, embodies the raw emotional core of the project. Written about the struggle with PTSD, insomnia, and the side effects of psychiatric medication, the track moves from deep darkness into a brighter, jazz-tinged piano section that offers a glimmer of hope. “It’s about the realization that medication was erasing far more than just the pain for me, and the fight to feel like myself again,” says Spice.
Elsewhere, the record explores personal and universal themes. High Park finds solace in everyday moments of healing, Rage Stage channels fury at betrayal, and Terrible Date captures the loneliness of searching for love. Manitoba reflects on his youth as a queer teenager in rural Canada, while My Body and No Justice confront experiences of sexual violence with unflinching honesty. The closing track, I’m So Glad, is a tender tribute to his husband Adam Moço, better known as drag artist Miss Moço.
Spice describes the album as “a return to music after 20+ years, bringing my career as an artist back to join my career as a psychologist, the singular power of music to move through life’s traumas, and a tribute to my beloved pets.”
Produced by two-time JUNO Award nominee Matthew Barber, With Animals also features contributions from GRAMMY®-nominated string arranger Drew Jurecka, Adrian Gordon Cook (MorMor), and Mike Tompa (Silverstein).
To celebrate the release, Spice will perform select live shows with Emm Gryner later this year, beginning at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre on 20th September, followed by Toronto’s Hugh’s Room on 9th October (with Gentleman Reg) and London, Ontario’s The Aeolian on 28th November.
Clairo Brings Soft Focus And Dreamy Intimacy To The Great Oak Stage At BST Hyde Park 2025
Share Thing