The liner notes to the debut record from Milwaukee band Bitch Creek are simple and to-the-point: “written and developed w love.” Countless records are written and developed with the same crucial ingredient, but there’s something about Bitch Creek that seems especially love-laden. Is it the expertly played acoustic/Celtic/queer folk-rock that weaves between moods warm and dark? Is it the sounds of nature sprinkled throughout? Is it the songwriting and vocals? How about all of the above?
Let’s start with the songwriting and (lead) vocals, courtesy of Liv Weiss. On tracks like “Take Me Back Home” and “Living To Die,” Weiss concocts timeless, deceptively simple melodies and gives them life with a gorgeously evocative half-asleep/half-awake voice. The voices of Weiss and the rest of Bitch Creek are all over opener “Cicada,” a harmony-driven masterclass in making a new song sound like it’s hundreds of years old. “Window Shopping” mines a more lo-fi sound that gives it a casual and natural vibe, while “Eating Paint” ends the six-track release on a stunningly high note. The latter song is haunting and unshakable. “Fell asleep in the grass in June / Woke up to January’s gloom,” Weiss sings. “The sad never leaves the room / Like a good song out of tune.” “Eating Paint” never leaves the room, either, but for all the right reasons.
Musically, Bitch Creek shines with Gigi Kliesmet on backup vocals and rhythm guitar, Helena Rose and Molly Korinek on fiddles, Helen Bozic on bass, and Kelsey Kaufmann on drums. Together with Weiss they create a sound both familiar and strange, intimate and distant. How does one make that sound? Well, with love, of course.
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