Ahead of the release of their upcoming record, “Moonlight Regions”, I take some time to analyze the Milwaukee-based bands’ singles leading up to the album’s release.

Creature Weather consists of John Doyle and Tad Jameyfield. Self-described as “an experimental pop collaboration”, per their Bandcamp, the band has released five tracks. Below is my take on each track.

“Callinout”

A baroque-surf rock track that moves with the breeziness of The Mamas & The Papas, Beach Boys drums and the vocals and additional instrumentation reminiscent of The Left Banke.

Tad Jameyfield on the track:

“I wrote this one before covid, but it fit snugly into the sentiment of lockdown. In 2018, my job as an architect was getting too overwhelming, my dad was sick, my grandma died, and my friends kept moving from Chicago. I was overwhelmed by the change and bored at my own trajectory at the same time. I picked music back up to get out of my architecture disillusions and try to focus on finding new things to keep my mind at bay from itself. Little did I know, in a year I was going to be isolated at home for another year and some change with the rest of the world, so that shit was fun... I wrote this trying to seek new creative endeavors and outlets, I felt like I was marooned on this very pretty island, with all these nice things but no way to get off, but wanted a friend for the ride. I pictured me in the middle of the blazing sun floating with no shoreline in sight, a happy sight but it could feel deadly given the circumstance”

“Glacier Days”

A Fleet Foxes-influenced song where voices bulid upon voices at points, to great effect. As the song progresses, spectacular drumming and percussion bursts through and bring the track to great heights,

Tad Jameyfield on the track:

"Glacier Days is a song about living in your own purgatory, trying to rationalize the true spirit of others and yourself, and what comes around the corner after this life. I hope something! But we will never know, so we'll just be waiting for a new day ...Without going overboard with the existential inquiry, I wanted to musically express a build up of questions that really didn't have an answer lyrically, but musically had this release of crashing into a wave of sun soaked sound."

“Fine”

Here we find some Flaming Lips vocal echoes and lyrics that can be read as psychedelic on the surface, but truly relay to a more an idyllic state of being - heavily grounded in reality.

Tad Jameyfield on the track:

"I wanted to take a simple, small talk-y statement, and dive into a whirlpool of feelings of what "fine" feels like when you tell your buddy how things are going. "Ah, dude, I'm Fine!" can mean everything from euphoria to terror to boredom to rage to stasis. I feel most balanced, stable people who can answer that statement "everything's fine" often carry the weight of the little insanities of the everyday. Its a small subtle conversational detail, but within the polite response is usually a wonderous world of feelings. At least I feel that way...I could be nuts."

“Midwest Tropical”

This track shimmers like gold leaf. It almost feels like an outtake from Animal Collective circa “Feels”, but would also work as better Avey Tare solo material today. The transition from third to fourth verse utilizes the melancholy, hat-in-hand, tone switch of Tame Impala. Fragmented lyricism adds a great sense of authenticity: some times with music, saying everything on the mind isn’t as effective as just let the sounds around the lyrics fill in the gaps.

Tad Jameyfield on the track:

"I work remotely from home, and during the pandemic lockdowns before anyone was vaccinated, I used to try to walk my dog in Logan Square (Chicago) along the boulevards at off peak times to avoid others. That often was around the middle of the afternoon. I would take a sunny stroll, listen to some new music, and unwind my mind as my dog sniffed random bushes and grasses. I began looking at those trees, and noticing all the variations in Midwestern deciduous plants. Like things you don't bat an eye at, that all the sudden became interesting because I noticed a weird seed pod hanging from these big floppy leaves, or the spikey nature of cattails and grass reeds; how all the shapes of the landscape seemed so special. I would daydream about how these willow and catalpa trees could be "tropical" (or foreign to me), as if they had the clout a palm or coconut tree had on an island somewhere. I had found a moment of happiness to reflect on being a Midwesterner living amongst these exotic, beautiful, strange, yet normal-ass plants."

“Phantom Face”

This is an interesting track. It has a great “Wall-Of-Sound on acid” intro that continues to build until you’re met with streams of cannon-blast surf-rock instrumentation that keep the song rolling.

Tad Jameyfield on the track:

"This song is about Anthony Bourdain. I love(d) his shows and books and his persona he portrayed as an unlikely ambassador of the world. He was human and had his problems, but he showed me from my high school days how cool and big the world is, and inspired me to travel and experience as much as I could. When he died, even though he was a celebrity and I had no idea who this man really was, I felt I lost a piece of my adolescence with him. I wrote the track on the guitar up in the Wisconsin Northwoods over a vacation after binging a few episodes. The lyrics came later, but I remember having a fever dream where he was floating around the sky above the lake setting the trees on fire. Messed up dream. But I wanted to commemorate the mirror he put up for the world to see and the exposure of all the different cultures he shared."

It’s been some time since there has been a band worth getting excited about in Milwaukee, but Creature Weather come through with a perfect balance of nostalgia and progressiveness through a variety of Pop that you can’t help but move to. This is essential listening if you’re looking for new music.

Thank you to Tad Jameyfield and John Doyle for their participation in providing thoughts and insight into their current project. Look out for “Moonlight Regions” soon!

https://creatureweather.bandcamp.com/music