Portions for Foxes: Jane Vain and the Dark Matter

"Portions for Foxes" is a series of weekly posts, each about one song by a woman or a band led by a woman. See the introduction for more.

It's another obscure one this week, a song I loved but know essentially nothing about the singer and band. But that's the way of the world, isn't it? There are billions of people, living their lives and doing things - some of them make art, some of that art is breathtaking, but only a subset of even the breathtaking stuff will stick with a larger audience. Not to be a Pollyanna, but it's a vast ocean of wonders.

Anyway, the song this week is C'mon Baby Say Bang Bang, a quiet smoky tune sung in an undertone, from a band called Jane Vain and the Dark Matter. According to a quick Wikipedia check, they're supposedly still active, but haven't had a new record since 2010. And the band was, or maybe still is, mostly one person: Jaime Fooks, originally from Calgary but residing in Montreal the last time someone updated the page.

It's a dark song, full of elusive lyrics, with a late-night sound.

let’s stay up all night and figure
whose guns are bigger
you can put yours right between my eyes honey
if you promise to pull the trigger

It's all a metaphor, of course. She's not singing about a real gun. Absolutely. Not a chance. Entirely about shallow party people trying to one-up each other with their clever remarks. Nothing else.

Right?