Chris Lotten
Double Ewes (from left): Jeremy Nealis, Whilden Hughes and Max Jewer.
Given Janesville musician and farmer Whilden Hughes’ musical preoccupations, it’s a miracle he hasn’t driven his combine right out of the fields and onto the interstate. The leader of electronica trio Double Ewes has upped the trippiness on the group’s poetic second album, Dead Furrow, a collection of songs that dissect emotion the way a tractor divides the soil.
A dead furrow is a real thing. It’s the empty trench left in the wake of the plow — emptiness that is up to the farmer to fill and nourish and, in this case, a space for the artist to contemplate choices, righteousness and responsibilities. The new album is an electronic back-to-the-land experience. Think Wendell Berry with drum loops.
Hughes’ family has been farming in Rock County since 1844. They currently raise crops including corn, beans, wheat and rye. It would be easy to romanticize the farmer as artist. Hughes keeps it real in his own mind, even though he views life as only a farmer can.
“I see every day the consequences of correct and incorrect decisions. The costs associated with convenience, and the real and honest gains made by embracing change,” says Hughes. In these new songs, the crossover from the pragmatism of the field to the artistry of the studio is triggered by what we all have in common: our inevitable — and daily — challenge to come to terms with our emotions.
“With farming you don’t get to ignore inconvenient realities,” says Hughes. “The nature of the work forces you to confront them…eventually.”
The result of this alchemy is what Double Ewes keyboardist Jeremy Nealis calls “tempo-synched soundscapes.” The music is a cosmic combination of strung-together tracks from old drum machines, samplers, loopers and pedals nested beneath Hughes’ simple, provocative lyrics. The project came together over the last three years. Fragments of the songs often appeared as messages from Hughes to Nealis’ iPhone. Nealis, who works as an artist and animator, fattened the files up, layered them and prepped them for the trio to further arrange in the studio. Bassist and backup vocalist Max Jewer doubled as the band’s engineer.
“I’ve got the easy job,” says Hughes. “I get to improvise and create and try to tell a story. They are the ones behind the scenes who really distill the material into a finished work.”
Selected cuts on the album also include live guitar and drum tracks played by Alex Reilly and Justin Johnson of Madison’s cowpunk outfit Wood Chickens.
There is a density and weight to Dead Furrow that asks the listener to pay attention or fall behind. The title track, a flowing, mysterious encounter, grafts existentialism with everyday experience. “Life takes most of my time (won’t even notice) Life takes most of my time (won’t even notice),” Hughes sings.
A video on Hughes’ Instagram shows him using a drone to deliver parts for a broken irrigation tower to his father, who’s out in the middle of a corn field. It’s this ability to straddle both worlds that sets Dead Furrow apart. “Willie is imaginative and resourceful,” says Nealis. “He’s always on the lookout for new (and old) tools to make music interesting and different.”
Double Ewes will celebrate the release of Dead Furrow at the Crystal Corner Bar on Dec 15. The bill also includes Damsel Trash, Cave Curse and Tippy.
