Artist Spotlight: Ravi/Lola, Loud Library
A stacked five-act bill took place at Bremen Cafe Friday night, each with an entirely unique sound. Singer-songwriter Deep Femme kicked things off with a solo set (she had originally planned to play with her band but one of them sustained an injury) followed by psych-pop band Ravi/Lola, Chicago disco-pop band Our Fathers, Chicago orchestral dance-pop collective Glad Rags, and finally alternative pop band Loud Library.
Ravi/Lola is made up of vocalist/guitarist Casey Seymour, bassist Anton Sieger, drummer Nick Wieczorkowski, and keyboardist Robert Thomas. Originally started as a home recording project in 2014, the band evolved into a full outfit with a 60’s psychedelia-inspired flavor. Their latest album “Neighborhood Daydream” came out this past August.
“It’s a loose concept but has a local neighborhood theme,” Seymour said about the new record. “It’s a lot of character sketches and talks about places and people. We recorded it with our friend Dante Fumo on the South Side of Milwaukee; we rented a studio space there for a little while and that’s where we practiced and recorded the whole thing. Dante mixed, recorded, and engineered it but it was mastered by Justin Perkins.”
The band recently played The Empty Bottle in Chicago.
“It was a Midwest Action showcase,” Seymour explained. “Glad Rags (playing tonight) played there as well, and this band BRBRA BUSH was really great – there’s like fifteen people in it and they’re super funky.”
Seymour says the band is working on their next record already.
“We’re about three-quarters of the way done. It’s more of a concept, really. It’s kind of inspired by the last election…it’s not a political album but inspired by politics – one song is about journalism, one’s about a long-term prison sentence, one’s about being on public assistance…a lot of community and helping each other out. This album we just released is about neighborhood but now it’s getting grander into like a town. Toy-town pop is something I’m inspired by lyrically; it’s about a lot of character sketches and fictionalized people.”
Ravi/Lola is planning an acoustic show with Zack Pieper at Circle A in January, and hope to get into the studio by spring.
Loud Library consists of vocalist/bassist Ben Smith, guitarist Garret Holm, and drummer Judicael Bationo. Naming themselves after an oxymoron, the three-piece formed in February 2018 and play both pop songs and groovy instrumental jams. While the band has played Bremen a number of times, Smith claims this had been their best time there yet.
They just dropped a new single “Recycle Bin.”
“It’s about a person going through cycles,” Smith said. “It’s about where he belongs – in a recycle bin because he keeps starting over and over again. The idea was to make a fun, catchy song.”
The band also dropped a four-song EP “A Letter Home” about a year ago.
“It came out around Thanksgiving last year,” Smith said. “Judicael is from a different country so he felt homesick around the time, so we did a tribute… “a letter home” that was creative and spontaneous.”
Loud Library is focusing on promoting their new song while they have a number of shows lined up – Milwaukee Hangout on the 25th, Rosco’s in West Allis on November 1st, and Bremen once again November 29th.
