Are you a Milwaukee musician/band? You can submit your music to be the Milwaukee Artist of the Week by emailing links to info@BreakingAndEntering.net. We’ll check out every submission we get!

This week’s Milwaukee Artist of the Week is Estates, an indie trio that goes from 0 to 60 in a chord change. Their latest release, a self titled cassette, mixes the melancholy with power throughout, and it’s the formula for some pretty memorable music. The band definitely knows how to make a emotional statement in the course of a song, as evidenced throughout the album.

Let’s be clear. This isn’t your garden variety emo record. Estates make power-indie, if that’s such a thing. Songs like “Seasonal” can begin with a winding, slow guitar line, but can ramp up to a powerful chorus out of almost nowhere. Their songs build up to an apex at just the right moment, driving home the sentiment that their verses give off. The best comparison to this style of songwriting that I can give is Weezer’s “Undone (The Sweater Song)” and believe me, that isn’t a lofty comparison by any means. Estates have some of the qualities that made Weezer’s Blue Album so good; they hook you in, and hit you with a chorus at just the right point. While that may sound easy to do, being able to elaborate on that formula throughout an album without losing a listener’s attention is hard to do. Estates pull that off with ease.

Estates aren’t new to this, either. The self titled cassette is their second official release, in addition to a demo that is also available to stream via Bandcamp. With every song on this release, they sounded more polished as a band. You can hear their passion for music in this album, and that’s something that is often hard to discern with bands on recorded material. With two albums under their belt, I can only hope that they will continue to grow and evolve, and hopefully be able to take their great songwriting to the next level. For those of you who haven’t picked up their cassette (there’s still a limited number available I believe), you can stream their Self titled album below via Bandcamp:

For more Estates, check them out on Facebook, Bandcamp, and their website.