Photo: Dead Horses - deadhorses.net
Dead Horses
Dead Horses
Sarah Vos and Daniel Wolff began playing as Dead Horses in 2010, with the name reflecting layered meanings. Vos said as time passed the name has come to be all the more fitting because it highlights both darkness and light. Dead Horses ‘show on Friday at Turner Hall coincides with the release of their new album Brady Street.
Naming an album after one of Milwaukee’s legendary neighborhoods begs the question, is there a sense of place or Midwestern sensibility to the band?
“Absolutely,” said Vos. “The more that we travel nationally the more it becomes apparent. Of course, there is personalities—when we tour with an East Coast band there is a big difference in the way we think and talk and treat each other. We are very Midwestern-nice, eager to please and make people feel comfortable.”
Musically speaking, calling this record Brady Street, is paying homage to Milwaukee, she continued. “To me it is a coming-of-age record, reflected partially in the idea of the region and the city that you live in is spart of who you are.”
Vos emigrated from Oshkosh and Wolff from Berlin, just west of Oshkosh. The album was recorded in Neenah. After Friday’s performance the band hits the trail, concluding with a mid-October show in North Carolina. Dead Horses’ resume includes opening for The Who at Alpine Valley and Trampled by Turtles at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
But those high-profile spots might offer the wrong impression. The sound of Brady Street is intimate and conversational. Vos’ lyrics are the by-product of paying attention to detail.
Brady Street as Inspiration
'Brady Street' by Dead Horses
Leading up to Covid, Vos lived on Knapp Street. Living in that area became a part of the way she was thinking. She did a lot of walking around all the beautiful architecture and the older churches just south of Brady. “It hit me how it eclectic it was. An image sticks out; a 50-ish year-old man in an electric wheelchair, holding a cup of beer and a tiny little dog riding by his feet.”
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She said that symbolized her idea of Brady Street. “Anyone gets along there so long as you are ok with everybody else.”
Likewise, Wolff was struck by the neighborhood early on. “One of the earlier spots we played before we were living in Milwaukee was the Up and Under,” he said. “Being unfamiliar with Milwaukee, it was a cool place to land. It just seemed like there was a lot going on, kind of the Plymouth Rock …”
Having miles and years of touring under their belt, Vos intuitively connected the neighborhood to familiar ones from their travels. She said that as much as the title points to Milwaukee it also points to the group’s identity—musicians who get to travel around the country and play these types of places, bohemian neighborhoods with a heartbeat.
Doing photo shoots for the album cover they were casually bar hopping and showing the photographer around. “It dawned on me that walking around (Brady Street) is a lot like what we do when we travel around the country,” Vos said. “We just explore. That’s a great way to really get to know people, just have an open heart and if someone wants to chat…a lot of time strangers are willing to share pretty intimate things about their perspectives and their lives in scenarios like that.”
Honing Their Sound
Dead Horses’ acoustic sound is a distinct one. Wolff’s upright bass, which often sounds like a cello, takes a second melancholy voice. Vos sent demos to Wolff and he came up with parts. The duo has found that to be a been productive way to work. Vos said what she writes reflects her and Wolff’s chemistry.
“I’ll take an idea or song that Sarah has and consider the arco parts on bass to be a response to her vocal melodies. I listen and record parts that fit in. It (the upright bass) is a voice in its own way—I like the throaty-ness to bowing that big of an instrument. It fits nicely with the songs Sarah writes.” At times Wolff’s parts recall the string and cello parts on Nick Drake’s music.
While Dead Horses has performed as quintet as well as a duo, Vos said the Turner Hall show will be the duo plus a drummer, leaving room for Wolff’s bass to move from rhythm to lead as the situation requires.
