I have been completely immersed in this album today. Originally, I had planned to listen to it just once before diving into writing, but my day took an unexpected turn, giving me three opportunities to listen to it in its entirety. I must say, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s one of those albums that grows on you with each listen, and this one is a perfect example of that.
Housewives is a band of high school friends hailing from Hartford, Connecticut. Their music is a captivating blend of jangle folk, alt-country, garage, and indie rock, featuring playful melodies that have really struck a chord with me. The album exudes a sense of joy and fun, as if the band had an absolute blast creating it, and that enthusiasm is infectious. Despite the variety of genre influences, the songs come together seamlessly, resulting in a cohesive and delightful album.
Listening to the music, I find myself transported to a picturesque porch in the midst of a Connecticut fall, savoring hot cider and immersing myself in these tunes with friends, soaking in the moment.
Notably, the band created a music video for the track “Pacific Coast Highway,” which was filmed during a white water rafting adventure in Vermont, USA, as part of a member’s bachelor party. The video complements the song perfectly, adding an extra layer of enjoyment to the whole experience. And let’s not forget the captivating lyrics of this song that have also captured my attention.
Days drift into night,
Where did they go? Feeding the soul
Days drift into night
You’re never far from home
Feel the warmth of the sand beneath
Smell the salt as the summer breeze floats through
Cloudy day but the sky is blue
For a moment life feels like brand new
What a fucked long winter it’s been
When you’re frozen how quick shit accrues
Now I’m left with this icey heap
Melting away, chip a cube off in my booze
The lights in my eyes
But I’m feeling alright
Feel the warmth and smell the sea
I can’t see, now I can see
What a fucked winter it’s been
In the light now I can see I grew
On a wave and I’m wide awake
Ride it anywhere it takes me to
The lights in my eyes
But I’m feeling alright
I reached out to Mike, the bachelor, to ask our 3 Qs:
What inspired you to start making music and what keeps you making music?
We are best friends who started making music back in high school and have been involved in various projects ever since. What inspired this band’s formation was to build on a foundation inspired by our 90’s upbringing of indie alt-rock influences with the 50s-60s pop group vocal melodies that were constantly playing throughout my grandma’s house growing up. We want to evoke the nostalgia of how fun it was to grow up in the 90s blended with the comfort of a classic pop melody and harmony pairing. What keeps us going is just striving to outdo our previous work. Although our music has a fairly straightforward aesthetic, we spend a lot of time trying to capture that in the recordings and songwriting process for which there is always room for improvement.
What was the most challenging thing in your music (artistic) path?
Probably finding the time to make music as a band. We are all physicians or doctorates in our professional lives which makes time management a challenge. Thankfully we’ve found a process, like many other modern musicians, where we can share demos electronically to work on the songs in our respective free time. But nothing beats the good old days of cramming in a hot garage or basement together for hours making noise and terrible cassette tape recordings.
What would you dream to do if anything was possible?
It would be cool to shift people’s attention towards supporting the arts more. Life would be so grayscale without the color of music and art, and I think people unfortunately take that for granted. It’s a wildly underappreciated and undercompensated field which is such a shame because it’s a truly magical tool which can bring people together. It enhances good experiences and supports you through the bad. Maybe we could all agree to make Friday night a mandatory “stop-doom-scrolling-and-go-see-a-show” night. I guarantee it would make us all better people and would help support artists in continuing to create.
Written by Filip Zemcik
