The Wake

Photo by Ben Lansky

When discussing Minneapolis’s music scene, its eclectic makeup is never in doubt. Within the scene, however, demarcated by genre or style, there exist real strengths and real weaknesses. It is perhaps Minneapolis’s lonely location between coastal music capitals that accounts for the lack of a unified style, opening the field for artists with a wide array of influences. However, it is the city’s courtship with folk music in the broadest and best sense of the term, combined with an ability to generate young and talented bands that deserves special attention. Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles deserve this attention.

The six-piece is a relatively recent creation. Led by Lucy Michelle, the band’s origins can be traced through Oklahoma, where Michelle’s grandfather constructs banjos. He built Lucy her ukulele.

Last summer, Michelle and accordionist Ashley Boman trekked through Europe together, playing music on the streets of Paris, Florence, and Barcelona. With a ukulele and a childrens’ accordion, the duo found success collecting euros in Ireland’s maritime capital, where they even found employment in the storefront window of a head shop. Despite the lucre uncovered in European taste and generosity, Michelle and Boman returned home earlier than planned, lacking in funds but resolved to start what Michelle called “a real band”.

Michelle didn’t have to look far, plucking from the ready talent that was nearest to her. Her roommate, Geoff Freeman of local acts Great Plains and Viceburgh, became the drummer. Chris Graham, Michelle’s very first and best boyfriend, who recently left the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music for jazz guitar joined as well. Eamonn McLain, another recruit, who is currently spelunking and watching rugby in New Zealand, is an old high school friend and classically trained cellist. Jesse Schuster, the product of a mutual friendship, plays bass and thought of this band as the perfect occasion to invest in and learn the upright. In addition to Boman on the vertical piano, the Velvet Lapelles coalesced around their diverse training and shared relationships.

The conductor, of course, is Michelle. Even with the depth of skill in the band, there is rarely an instrumental flourish that is not subordinate to the song itself. At the center of any song, accompanied by either ukulele or organ, is Michelle’s voice, dressing the melody with a very ol’ time styling. This could be attributed to Michelle being a devout Billie Holiday listener, only she whistles where Holiday hums.

Michelle gives great care to each lyric, allotting them precedence while keeping them simple and playful. In respect to the importance of lyrics, she cites Bob Dylan and frequently covers “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” With “Osbick Bird” she turns an Edward Gorey poem into a cause for cheer:“It’s rainy and it’s cold, but your hand that I hold is keeping, me warm.”

Photo by Ben Lansky

It is natural of a band this size to sound most convincing live, and Lucy Michelle is no exception. The band has played only a handful of shows since August, when their inaugural performance broke down due to the late summer heat and a shortsighted plan to enlist a kiddie drum kit at the Midtown Global Market. With the bar set at a child’s height, their live performances have only improved since then, and the band now stands together confident and seasoned.

The band has played with hip-hop groups, rock bands, and even opened for a flock of blondes at an Ari Herstand beatboxing set in Northfield. It is a testament to the band’s accessibility that it doesn’t feel out of place among any of these pockets of the Minneapolis music scene.

For over 10 years, Mike Wisti has recorded such local acts as Lifter Puller, Maps of Norway, Malachi Constant, and Skoal Kodiak. He recently recorded Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles for what will be their first album. Wisti, who specializes in analog recording, recorded the band live with area microphones, producing a result that is undeniably intimate. Even after recording some of the more successful bands from Minneapolis, Wisti has no reservations in expressing his excitement for Lucy Michelle and the ability of the Velvet Lapelles.

“She’s as good and as advanced in her ability to sense, live, when the band has played a song well,” he said. “And fundamentally, it’s all about the songs, these great musicians are all playing music for the songs.”

Wisti had difficulty defining the sound in a neat, consumer-ready way, and said it is exactly this difficulty that is the best part of their music.

“They really transcend the genre…maybe ‘ol-timey-punk,” he said.

“No! Actually, victrola punk!” he laughed. And he found it.