Late ’00s and early ’10s Milwaukee music fans almost certainly remember Margaret Stutt. Under her Pezzettino moniker, the Racine native was an ever-present and accordion-slinging staple, playing shows in venues both traditional and untraditional, and making headlines as an early adopter of crowdfunding. Twenty-ten’s fantastic LubDub is an indie-pop masterpiece; subsequent Pezzettino releases traveled down more experimental roads, eventually leading to a new musical project, ZETI.
Stutt calls Oakland, California home these days, but she’s set to play an all-too-rare Milwaukee show on Thursday, April 9 at The Jazz Estate. Not only that, she’ll be playing in support of the first new ZETI record in more than a decade, It Is What It Is – Prevail. The four-track EP is a darkly beautiful and minimalist meditation on loss, collapse, and—more importantly—the psychic salve of art and solidarity. “Is the life you’re living / Is it life at all?” Stutt asks on the droning spoken-word “Look At The Sky.” “Unreachable, I call to you with love,” she continues. “You are loved. I love you.”
“The first seeds for this EP were planted in a bed of grief,” explains the record’s liner notes. “Following the passing of Jfre Coad and Rich Jacobs, Stutt found inspiration in their lifelong commitments to uninhibited DIY creativity. She dove headfirst into using new tools, such as a synthesizer inherited from Coad, and rekindled a dormant creative partnership with Milwaukee programmer and engineer Nez, setting to work on the songs presented here.”
Tickets to the Jazz Estate show are $18.26 (fees included) and are on sale NOW.
Want more Milwaukee Record? Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and/or support us on Patreon.