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This Just In
“It takes a very S&M-type personality to want to tackle classical music,” drummer/singer Scott Masson admits.
The Juliets are a classically-leaning folk-pop quintet, utilizing the elegant earthy moan of a cello at the foundation (Kaylan Mitchell), under a meandering, mellifluous violin (Sarah Myers), pushed and punched by piano chimes and acoustic guitars from a wispy-voiced singer (Jeremy Freer). Such was the state Masson found the band in at their second show in March '09. The band has since added bassist Kip Donlon — but initially, it was a stripped-down, strings/piano-only thing, indulging the classically-trained talents of Myers/Mitchell and Freer’s own long-held passion for classic composers.
Freer grew up on a steady diet of blues and R&B, from Howlin’ Wolf to Motown. There was a little bit of Dylan in there, sure, but for the most part it was blues-dominated. “So, getting into classical music was sort of a rebellion for me; it always seemed more natural for me to go in a more bluesy direction, or R&B. Going into the classical side was my own discovery,” Freer says.
“Coming from being a cellist,” Mitchell adds, “my view, going into rock music, was sort of a 'screw you' to the classical world.”
Mitchell had been playing cello in eclectic folk septet Canada for nearly three years. Similar to Masson, the Wayne State-studied, classically-trained, orchestra-circuit-run artist/performer had recently seen her local band life side quieted by Canada’s dispersing -— and wasn’t really looking for something else. Until after the night at the Tap Room in Ypsi, having a nightcap with friends at Freer’s apartment, she heard his new, amorphous song ideas. Though both Freer and Mitchell were tipsy, they agreed then and there that there was potential.
The results are a full-length self-titled debut, available as a free digital download until 3/13. They will celebrate the new album with a live performance next Friday (3/12) at the Majestic Café, along with the premier of a music video for the single, “This Just In,” directed by phenomenal local filmmaker Katie Barkel.
“All the best pop music, generally of the 20th century," Masson begins, "has an element of classicism involved, whether it’s the production or the melodies; the treble clef and the bass clef are using some kind of counterpoint that’s working off each other. That’s very classical … like, Bach’s a very great bass player, Mozart’s a very good melody maker.”
“I hate, in bands,” said Mitchell, “when strings are underutilized." Masson and Freer agreed in bemoaning the strings being treated as commodity. “I wanted my next project to be something where the strings were integral in the songwriting, I wanted to treat the strings like guitars.”
On Barkel’s video: “She’s phenomenal,” Mitchell exclaims, referencing her work in short film and other music video productions for locals like The Silent Years and Lightning Love. “Her style is similar to very classical filmmaking.” Freer would later offer that she, too, has a “bluesy” style … recalling the raw, sublime, enlightened flow of Jim Jarmusch or Wong Kar Wai. Masson used the word “soulful" to describe the way she plays.
The band will debut the video on 3/12, offering the LP for free (thejuliets.bandcamp.com) till the day after. The Juliets will then release two 7” singles on Five Three Dial Tone records and, later on, a physical copy of the record on vinyl. More music videos are also on the way.
The video is “depression-era/Fellini,” Freer posits. Or “blue-collar meets traveling circus.” Whatever. What's for certain: Barkel's work, shot in HD, will likely be the first time a cellist has been filmed with a knife in her teeth. | RDW
Juliets album/video premier w/Computer Perfection • 3/12, 9:30 p.m. • Majestic Café, 4120 Woodward Ave • 313.833.9700 majesticdetroit.com • $5
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