In MKE Music Rewind we revisit notable Milwaukee music that was released before Milwaukee Record became a thing in April 2014. This week: Soul Low’s UNEASY, from 2013.
Time has a way of simultaneously dragging and flying by. Days and weeks can seem like an eternity, while entire years elapse in what seems to be the blink of an eye. While focusing on day-to-day matters and navigating what’s immediately ahead, occasional reminders of time’s accelerating passage routinely pop up to let you know that even if you don’t “wanna feel old,” it’s going to happen anyway.
Such signs of mortality’s cruel and unending march occur especially often when it comes to music. Case in point: You might be shocked to learn this month marks the 12th anniversary of Soul Low releasing its debut album. It’s probably equally surprising to know that—aside from a pair of reunion shows in late 2023—the band has been broken up since 2018, which according to our calculations is not approximately two years ago, but actually a full SEVEN years ago. The horror!
I’d hit you with a “wanna feel old?” here, but I already know you don’t want to…yet you now very much do feel old. In fact, the band’s first album actually precedes Milwaukee Record‘s launch by about nine months, thus qualifying it for inclusion in this series. Now that we all feel completely and utterly ancient, let’s take a brief (because it’s now clear time is of the essence) trip back to a beautiful point in time when we were young…er and watching the then-youthful whippersnappers in Soul Low pretty much take over the local music scene.
On July 13, 2013, a largely unknown and absolutely unheralded trio of guys in their early twenties released UNEASY. That stunning eight-song effort showcases young musicians with a perspective and a level of musicianship that extended far beyond their years. Yet even without those padding modifiers of Soul Low’s age and emergence from local music obscurity being used to prop up the debut, UNEASY is still just a downright exceptional album.
Amidst the unhinged “Sitting By The Fire,” the barren ballad “Son,” the sage psychedelia of “Silence,” the danceable-yet-dour “Spooky Times,” and the rowdy rally cry of “Cliffs,” charmingly shaky vocals and classically trained instrumentation are managed by guys who just so happened to be young and previously unknown. It’s one of those records that are made to be revisited every few months, at which point you’ll often emerge with a new favorite song. “Wake Up Pains” and “Take Time” are currently vying for my top spot after today’s listen to help get the writing juices flowing.
The all-around awesome aural introduction—in all its genre-jumping glory—would set the stage for a dominant next five years for Soul Low, which included boisterous shows in basements, frenzied local festivals, and crowded concerts in clubs with droves music scene newcomers dancing and screaming along to every wavering word. That prosperous half-decade also found the band promoting Sean Hirthe (whose saxophone can be heard on a few UNEASY songs) to a full-fledged member. The period also included a steady stream of impressive albums and EPs—including one record that was released posthumously—and ambitious music videos that matched the band’s ever-evolving sound.
Soul Low officially called it quits in late 2018. Last I heard, its members (now a few years into their thirties) are spread between New York, Minnesota, and one member remaining in Milwaukee. While their entire existence was but a blip in the grand scheme, few bands in the city can say they sounded as good, did as much, or made as indelible a mark as Soul Low did between mid-2013 and the end of 2018. If someone made a documentary about Milwaukee music in the 2010s, they would be in it. If someone released a soundtrack for the same era, it would be a travesty to leave Soul Low off of it.
Looking back all these years later, that turned out to be a particularly special time in Milwaukee music. And Soul Low—by way of catching lightning in a bottle with an outstanding first album that seemingly came out of nowhere—was at the forefront of that local heyday. We may be living in “Spooky Times” here in 2025, but UNEASY serves as a timeless reminder of youthful angst and boundless possibilities set to great indie-tinged music.