Somewhere to Swim' by Marielle Allschwang and The Visitations
'Somewhere to Swim' by Marielle Allschwang and The Visitations
Artistic therapy has proven an effective and affecting means for survivors of various traumas to process their harrowing experiences. Milwaukee folk/classical/rock experimentalists Marielle Allschwang and The Visitations have lent their artistry to serving the poetry of four survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking, participants in the Rise & Thrive survivor empowerment program offered through Milwaukee's own LOTUS Legal Clinic.
Allschwang's music has never operated as background listening, and her new EP, Somewhere to Swim, stands as one of her and her band's most demanding releases in so far as the attention it merits. But the rewards provided by its four songs are commensurately substantial. Swim is nowhere near anything resembling fun; joy, however, figures prominently in its four songs born of circumstances no one deserves to endure. The light arising after dark journeys comes from the perseverance and resolve of realizing their worth regardless their circumstances.
Regardless its relatively brief length, Swim offers a fulsome, immersive experience, buoyed by The Visitations adoption of shoegaze and nearly metallic guitar tones intersecting with Allschwang’s sensitive interpretations of the free verse of the contributing poets. Somewhere to Swim makes for a work singularly local in origination but, ultimately for the better, much more universal application.
