When we last checked in with Nineteen Thirteen, the drum/cello duo of Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes) and Janet Schiff were teasing a new album, Music For Time Travel, with a tantalizing single called “The Reason Why.” The band has been plenty busy since then, playing a high-profile gig at the BMO Harris Pavilion, dropping in on the inaugural Milwaukee Fringe Fest, appearing on MPTV’s The Arts Page, and playing a handful of other local shows. Now, DeLorenzo and Schiff are chasing their Time Travel main course with something of an after-dinner mint in the form of The Dream EP. It only takes one listen to realize it’s aptly named.
DeLorenzo describes The Dream as an “audio love letter” to the music of Brian Eno and Kraftwerk. Indeed, the EP’s four super-sized tracks (clocking in at a combined 27 minutes) lean more electronic than your typical Nineteen Thirteen pieces. Robotic opener “Walk Light” takes its inspiration from talking Milwaukee crosswalks; the hypnotic and creeping “Arco, Pizzicato” and “A Dream You Can’t Remember” both feature DeLorenzo’s son Malachi; and nine-minute closer “#1913 Dream” is a delicate, minimalist soundscape that sets your mind adrift.
Cool your Eno-loving warm jets to The Dream, via iTunes, here.