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The best kept secret in music
Press
Reviewed by Noel Murray
August 2nd, 2006
In the three years since Venus Hum's well-received major-label debut Big Beautiful Sky, the trio had a recording contract collapse in a merger, lead singer Annette Strean lost her singing voice, and changing musical trends put ice-cool pop-tronica out of favor again. Undaunted—or at least only slightly daunted—Venus Hum returns with The Colors In The Wheel, which deals head-on with what the band has been facing. The album opens with the light, pretty, almost tropical "Turn Me Around," an acoustic ballad that picks up strength as it goes, adding burbling electronics and a Strean vocal that gradually shifts from whispery to richly throaty. It's an arresting way to begin: tinkering with the Venus Hum sound without dropping the band's commitment to connecting the synthetic and the human.
The Colors In The Wheel contains its share of harder dance tracks, like "Yes & No" and "Do You Want To Fight Me?", and Venus Hum displays a new kind of swagger in songs like the sassy "Pink Champagne" (the perfect soundtrack to some fashion model's runway walk) and the disjointed art-pieces "Surgery In The Sky" and "72 Degrees." But while Strean no longer sings with her former operatic abandon, she's still remarkably expressive, with a core of vulnerability that gives this album its beating heart. The Colors In The Wheel peaks in the classically sinewy synth-pop wonder "You Break Me Down," where Strean sings about exhaustion in a voice that keeps pushing to the edge of cracking, then coming back stronger. - A.V. Club The Onion
Discography
Venus Hum (April 24, 2001)
Hummingbirds (October 22, 2002)
Switched on Christmas (December 21, 2002)
Big Beautiful Sky (April 1, 2003)
Songs for Superheroes (January 1, 2004)
The Colors In The Wheel (July 25, 2006)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Venus Hums 2003 major label debut, Big Beautiful Sky, was a rollercoaster that took them all over the place. The album resulted in a colossal tour with the Blue Man Group and made a fan of Alias creator JJ Abrams who used their music on the show and even had a character holding the albums cover. By the end of the albums promotion, singer Annette Strean had developed debilitating vocal nodes that threatened to end her career, Kip Kubin began a successful film career, Tony Miracle made a solo album and restored a mid-century modern house in Cincinnati, and mergers ended their label deal. The band ultimately decided to reconvene and return to their DIY roots with The Colors in the Wheel meticulously crafting the most interesting and engaging album of their career.
The ride begins with the crackling lift-off of Turn Me Around which is created solely with guitar sounds! The percussion and strings are all computer manipulated guitar. The Teutonic electro-stomp of Yes And No takes us to the dance floor and then the ride continues through the lost superhero theme Do You Want To Fight Me? and the moving, daydreamy centerpiece, Genevieves Wheel, then dances off with the T.Rex-goes-to-the-moon pop of Pink Champagne and the affecting lullaby, Go To Sleep. Streans lyrics have also evolved. She is not afraid to take the listener to an emotionally dark place but always pulls them out at the end.
Venus Hum have recommitted themselves to each other and their community. Along with the album, expect podcasts, videos by Kubin, singles with pre-mixes that will allow fans to rearrange the songs, and one-off shows in unconventional venues.
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