Milwaukee Music Premiere: snag, ‘Juneberry’

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Through sheer force of will across their decade-long career, snag has continued to push the border of what hardcore can sound like. New single “Juneberry” is the latest example, with the hard-emo outfit showing off their pointed musicianship through an eerily beautiful ballad.

The track is off the band’s upcoming full-length release, All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust, which is snag’s third LP and first with Deathwish Records. The band announced their signing with the label last month to a tidal wave of support, both locally and nationally, lauding the move.

The first two singles from the soon-to-drop album, “Debilitated” and “Unarrest Me” were infectious hits that demonstrated the strong, undulating sound snag is known for. Mindwhirling melodies like those tend to flow naturally from the fingertips of dogged artists, but the tonal shift of “Juneberry” represents the ripples from snag’s dive into the ocean of the Milwaukee music scene.

“We made a decision a long time ago to simply make the music that we like and to not try to fit into genre conventions,” bassist/vocalist Peter Murphy said. “That decision gave us permission to try different instrumentation and stylistic approaches to songs, which resulted in a few unusual moments on this album.”

The new single was made in collaboration with local musicians and friends of the band, specifically Ellie Jackson, Cleo Jackowick and Kyle Smith on vocals; John Larkin on trumpet; and Will Hansen on the pedal steel. For a band as loud as snag the instrumentation is pulled back (to a point), with richly layered vocal tracks pushing the tune as they sing their worries out loud to a blackened sky:

Ash in the air, pale morning light
Dry lake giving birth to a sunrise
Radio drones on and on
Old engine’s revving wrong

The days are long, but time’s running out
You laughed, but you’re coughing now 
The days are long, but that sunrise won’t let you down
Turn it around

The guitar melody starts as a moody lick accentuated by Hansen’s pedal steel, channeling the emotional calamity of Jason Molina’s Magnolia Electric Co. Some would argue that snag is dipping into the Americana influences within the greater Milwaukee music scene to keep up with the trends. To the band’s own credit, they sound like this simply because they want to.

“We have times when we’re practicing that we try to sound like Do Make Say Think,” Murphy said, referencing the influential Canadian instrumental group, “and this was our ‘do make snag think’ song for a while.”

In said fashion, the structure for this single changes from clean fingerpicking to earthquaking instrumentation backed by loud gang vocals. It’s a dynamic that thrashes the listener into a musically induced stupor. There isn’t a harsh vocal fry or rumbling groove in “Juneberry.” The band just play with contrast in such an effective way that the back half of the song hooks the listener with ease.

Ash in the air
Ash in our lungs
Ash in the air
Ash in our lungs

Ash in the air
Ash in our lungs
The sun rises with or without us

For a song based on the permanent after-effects of human greed, it’s strangely hopeful. There’s a level of solace that can be obtained from accepting the lived reality that surrounds those of us not in the higher echelons of the economic strata. So maybe we can accept our lot and scream together through the night until the morning comes.

Listen to “Juneberry” any time by clicking on the player at the top of the page, or catch the tune live on 88Nine throughout today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30 and 6:30 p.m.). You can also head to Cactus Club on July 18 for snag’s record release shows — the first starts at 6 p.m. with Frantic Repair and Angelica opening, while the second is at 9 p.m with Viscatcha and Garden Home starting off the night.

Jonathan Joseph is a Milwaukee-based multimedia freelance journalist who specializes in art and culture writing (and all things Milwaukee), with work appearing on Radio Milwaukee and in Milwaukee Magazine. Contact him via email or find him on LinkedIn.