Photo Credit: Sam Kirchoff
In this day and age, when bands come together, write a few songs and then release those songs as quickly as possible via some online platform, it’s rare to discover a band that seemingly comes out of nowhere with a stable of material that sounds both remarkably fresh and fully formed. Milwaukee-based Cream Vellum is such a band, as their debut EP reminds me that the city’s music scene can still surprise me. Venus Rx Rx, self-released by the band this March, contains six dream-pop inspired numbers that sound little like anything else coming out of Milwaukee at this moment.
Much of the band’s appeal comes from the fact that they approach their songwriting with fresh ears. “I’ll be honest with you,” explains lead songwriter Elise McArdle (who handles vocals and synthesizer), “I’m relatively new to writing original music at all. I’m learning a lot as I go.”
While such lack of experience could be paralyzing to some, for McArdle and her bandmates— guitarist/vocalist Hans Jaeger, bassist Ryan Sablay and percussionist Tyler Salzbrun—this reality has instead proven quite liberating. “I really like to be in that space where you just learned something new or had a new idea,” McArdle continues, “and you’re in the honeymoon phase about experimenting with it.”
For Cream Vellum, the result of such experimentation is a sound that draws liberally from the shoegaze and noise pop scenes of the 1980s and ’90s. But a psychedelic influence also comes to the fore at several moments throughout Venus Rx Rx; McArdle notes that Jaeger counts Pink Floyd as one of his inspirations. Most intriguing, though, is the punk-like aggressiveness that informs many of the band’s best tracks. Guitar-driven EP closer “Glass on Glass,” for example, hits hard, with McArdle singing “Salt in my fucking wounds / blood in my ears / Lately my darling has gone away / And she won’t be back for years and years.”
|
|
Such emotional directness is a running theme throughout the lyrics on Venus Rx Rx. “There’s a narrative or concept for each of the songs,” McArdle explains, “but emotionally they have elements of nostalgia and loss and those two things intersecting.” Standout track “Sports Curse,” is “about wanting someone to get better so badly that you would do anything to make it happen and you’re just trying everything you can think of, but all you can really do is be there.”
McArdle notes that the song was inspired by the feeling of falling in and out sleep while listening to Chicago White Sox baseball games in the family car during her childhood. Such specificity of memory allows McArdle to home in on those details that we tend to notice when we try to remain in control of what is probably a hopeless situation. “I’ll pay your bills,” McArdle sings on “Sports Curse,” “I’ll walk you to AA / Hold your hand in the circle, or wait outside if that’s what you’d like.”
McArdle is currently a graduate student in literature and critical theory at the University of North Dakota, which makes band practice a bit difficult. Yet, she continues to write songs for the group while in Fargo, and pledges to return to Milwaukee during breaks from school. Thankfully, Venus Rx Rx will not be the last we hear from this up-and-coming band.
Cream Vellum’s Venus Rx Rx EP is streaming at creamvellum.bandcamp.com.
