montreal mirror '03

Ever heard of electric people? People who dim streetlights as they walk by, psychokinetically erase their term papers, or simply can't wear watches? Well, none of the members of San Francisco trio I Am Spoonbender claim to do what their quasi-namesake and fan Uri Geller appears to do, but don't hold a big magnet next to Dustin Donaldson.

"It's not powers," he says, "but there've been many times where we haven't been able to rehearse because I reset patches on synthesizers, computers shut down, lights went off. Weird stuff. it's unpredictable. it's probably just electromagnetics, of course- i could just be a fly in the electromagnetic ointment of some systems."

If Donaldson's electromagnetic field can be a hindrance, IAS use most everyday oddities to their advantage. They'll build songs around studio accidents, or roll dice to decide numeric patterns for rhythms. Errors and chance are never ignored in their world, which explains the odd nicknaming of IAS's Robynn Iwata, formerly of Vancouver's indie pop trio Cub. Apparently, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, a friend of Donaldson's, confused her with her old band and wound up christening her "Cup." it stuck.

But, as inclusive as their ideology sounds, there are limits and rules to prevent clutter and repetition.

"The IAS aesthetic is informed as much by what we exclude as what we use," says Donaldson, referring to their ban on "guitars and references to religious icons. We're trying to work in grey areas of popular culture that haven't been hammered to death, and one of those areas is the idea of reality itself. truth just happens to be a matter of the angle that you're looking at things from."

And that's the crux of it. IAS's music, show, merch and Web site, all DIY-crafted at their Seismic Seance studio, refer to one overlying concept: that if we evaluate modern technology, if we stop taking the commonplace and the normal for granted, we'll realize that anything is possible. Even the so-called paranormal.

"A lot of what was science fiction in the '50s is science fact now," says Donaldson. "We push a button on a plastic square and the TV turns on. It's a banal experience, but if you think about it, it's magic. is it telepathy? One object communicates to another object and it responds in ways we can't see. is there a difference?"

But Donaldson is as skeptical as he is open-minded. Coercion in advertising is the theme of IAS's upcoming sophomore album/DVD Hidden Persuaders, named after an ad exposé book of the same name written by Vance Packard in 1957.

"The ideas in that book seem quaint and outdated in a spectacularly '50s way, but maybe all that stuff did work, and subsequently, maybe we're all led by that desire to constantly consume. So our Hidden Persuaders uses a lot of '50s- and '60s-style advertising techniques, like subliminals, cut-ups and backwards messages," says Donaldson, who adds that the "futurist art pop record" was completed nearly a year ago, but the DVD production has delayed the release 'til the fall, or even next year. But the new EP, Shown Actual Size, and the upcoming show, a hotly-tipped spectacle rarely seen off the West Coast, will offer hints of their ad-busting ideas - as long as electromagnetic forces don't interfere.

"One of the modern conditions that makes life difficult is the constant bombardment of imagery and information. But when you sit down and think, 'Wow, we harnessed electricity,' it's amazing."