It starts with a beat, blooms with bass, colors-in with chilly synths and coagulates with dreamy distortion.
Then those staggering, sweet and soulful lead vocals breathe in such humanity onto the glitched-out electro-pallet of In Fact’s sound, the marvelous melodic element (of singer Brittany Willis) fully realizing the atmospheric, leftfield hip-hop tinged dance-pop visions of heretofore indie-rocking songwriter Joel Skene.
Those cool, woozy synths plume around atop staticy beats and buzz-grumbled bass swoons, setting a fog of mystique – an enticing, uneasy but coaxing ambience evoking the distinct dissonance of blurred-by nights across the headlight-blazed neon-club-dazed metropolis.
Skene’s pop rock resume includes Lone Wolf & Club, Fields of Industry and, currently, Team Ethic. But lately he can’t stop making loops and beats on his Roland SP 404, spurred to actuate “hypnotic atmospheres” through the repetitious beats and swirled, synth-fuzzed melodies.
Their debut’s four songs tell the story of a girl who is in a bad situation but can’t seem to get out, said Skene, having collaborated, lyrically, with Willis (the latter’s talents having been bolstered by training at Boston’s Berklee College of Music). In Fact’s first four movements (the opener a dynamic display of trip-hop featuring Detroit MC SelfSays), deal with Skene’s views on “party music.” “Life’s far too short not to have as much fun as possible but, fun…can also be dangerous. I hope our music is able to hold both those ideas simultaneously.”
Rhythmically, Skene cites Flying Lotus, LCD Soundsystem, the Neptunes and Hi Tek as current inspirations for his own electro-experimentation. “Clearly we end up being a little darker though, and I’m not sure why, it just works,” he says.
The otherwise indie-rock guitarist now mans keyboards/sampler and sequencer while former Lone Wolf & Cub band mate Del Belcher brings live bass grooves and their former college comrade (and Nashville-trained drummer) Michael Edwards effectively matches his live kicked kit work to sequenced beats.
The group finds themselves central to a newly more open, more diverse music community, being asked to play with hip hop acts as well as indie-folk bands. “I think people are pleasantly surprised at how much more bombastic and energetic the music is live. It’s a different animal, and we’re hoping to capture more of it on our LP.”
Said LP is currently coming together, featuring a “straight-up pop song – no way around it,” and other “more danceable” fare. Meanwhile, catch them twice this month around town. They will be at Woodruff’s in Ypsilanti with Jim Cerewick of Congress, K9 Sniffles and Actress on December 5. On December 27, they will perform at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor with Kenji Urada.
Photo by Whitney Kane
