ARTICLE LINKFever Marlene talk about their second album - By Tim Cigelske
"White China" may surprise Fever Marlene fans.
The Milwaukee duo's second album is a stark departure from the firepower and studio polish of their debut. It's stripped down, quiet and intimate.
"I think that's why we named it 'White China'," said singer Scott Starr. "It's a reference to letting down your guard and being vulnerable and breakable, like a porcelain piece of glass."
Last summer, the album "Civil War" put Starr and Kevin Dunphy on the map as a band to watch. The single "Red Fire" was the first song by an unsigned artist to score airplay on WLUM-FM (102.1) since the Gufs. Recently, RadioMilwaukee (WYMS-FM, 88.9) named Fever Marlene best local band and Starr best vocalist.
Despite this success, the duo had no interest in retreading old ground.
In January, on a whim, they packed up and drove to New York. They checked themselves into the Chelsea Hotel for four nights and five days. They decided whatever they produced in that time would be their new album.
As a result, the album carries the weight of a particular time and place. It also has undercurrents of longing and melancholy, possibly because it was created in the dead of winter.
"It's not a breakup album. It's not a political album. It's not a love album," Starr said. "It's just a thinking-about-you sort of thing."
They use minimalism to set the mood: the quiet rush of passing cars through an open window. A book dropping on the floor and a light bulb crashing in a repeated loop. Starr quietly singing over a few piano bars.
"Things could have sounded better," Starr said, "but it's the sound of what it is."
Fans shouldn't get too comfortable with this style, either. There already are plans for a very different album this summer.
"We're talking raw rock 'n' roll," Starr said.