Photo Credit: Amy Zippel
We were stranded at home, severed from normal society, our faces and fears hidden behind masks. We won’t forget 2020. We all grappled with the new reality and some of us reflected on the virus’ suffocating impact on sex, romance and relationships. Those are the themes heard on the new album by Milwaukee’s Boy Lonely, The Hoax.
Boy Lonely is the nom de musique of Casey Seymour, one half of the duo, Kiss Critique, and part of a local music sub-scene numbering other acts with overlapping membership such as Ravi/Lola, The Trusty Knife and Scrimshaw. “I think we all want to make art that changes or challenges someone’s perception of art in our own way. None of us want to be imitators, we want to make something original. We all go to each other for advice or insight on our recordings,” Seymour says. And recording is the key. Many of these groups are focused primarily on recording.
But back to The Hoax. “So many people were and are sheltering at home with their partners and I felt compelled to write an album about our experience,” Seymour says. “I love my wife, think she is beautiful, and the lyrics poured out from there. A lot of the album addresses the precautions we are taking in keeping each other safe, making the best of spending so much time alone together, and the goal of making a baby which is a fun and romantic experience.”
The Hoax opens with “The New Safe Sex,” which asks the uncomfortable question: “Is it sanitary for me to kiss you?” The narrator pleads his case: “I’ve washed my hands and taken a shower. I’ve sanitized my senses.” The darkly glistening production and synthetic melancholy of “Slow Your Spread” recalls ‘80s British techno-pop while “Our Love is a Pandemic” gets a techno-funky beat and a lyric in rap cadence. Many of us will relate to a line from “Club Lonely”: “I never want to be alone this much again.”
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Seymour calls The Hoax a pop record. “To me pop music is something catchy that you can sing along to and is relatively approachable,” he says. “I approached ‘pop’ on this album as songs with simple song structure, trying to have clever but relatable lyrics about love and circumstance, and included some cliches and modern terminology. I think pop music is also a reaction to popular culture. I guess I’m still trying to figure it out which might be motivating me to write music like this.”
The Hoax was recorded while Seymour sheltered at home. “I’d typically eat breakfast, walk the dog, and head upstairs to my small in-home studio and record. Each song took about three to four hours to write and record with very little editing or additions. ‘The New Safe Sex’ and ‘20 Seconds+’ were written in the same morning/early afternoon. I played all the instruments and sang everything, which allowed me to work fast and make quick decisions. At the end of the day, I’d show my wife what I had made. It was a great distraction from what was going on while trying to make sense of it.”
As the pandemic enters what we hope will be its final months, Seymour is drawing plans for another Ravi/Lola album, a follow-up to the prolific band’s 2019 CD Neighborhood Daydream. “I miss playing with them a lot and look forward to picking up where we left off when it’s safe,” he says.
The Hoax is a digital only release.
