Chelsey Dequaine
Sarah Vos’ father loved shooting home movies with his camcorder. He didn’t just film special events — he’d set up the camera on a regular day and capture memories like a snapshot.
“I think he did it when he was really happy with the family — when he realized we wouldn’t be kids forever,” Vos says.
Vos, the singer and songwriter for the Milwaukee folk duo Dead Horses, was reminded of her dad’s recording habit when a friend decided to digitize her own collection of VHS home movies. Vos turned the idea into a song, “Family Tapes.” Recorded at The Refuge, a former monastery in Appleton that’s been turned into a nonprofit recording studio and music venue, the song is the first in a series of singles the band plans to release over the next year.
Family Tapes by Dead Horses
The new music is a slight departure from the band’s signature bluegrass-Americana style — recorded with a full band instrumentation in mind, “Family Tapes” edges into the territory of folk-inspired indie rock. Bassist Daniel Wolff says that’s intentional. “We felt kind of pigeonholed,” he says. “Especially playing all these bluegrass festivals.”
After working with Nashville producer Ken Coomer (of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo) for their last two releases, including the 2018 full-length album, My Mother The Moon, the band wanted to experiment with new producers. But when they linked up with the Refuge, which provided a sound engineer, they decided to experiment with self-producing their new recordings. The handful of songs they’ve finished all have an indie-rock edge.
“My long-term goal is about how can I get to the position where I can get to do exactly what I want,” Vos says of the band’s musical evolution.
As for what that might sound like?
“I’m not sure yet,” she says.
