![]() ![]() Rudyard Kipling once said “He travels fastest who travels alone.” That became Sheetz’s mantra. I won’t stop playing it for at least an hour.” And I know this about myself now-I work well with puzzles and pottery and games like Simon or Bop It. I would just sit there for hours and do them. And I never once looked at the box for examples of what the picture looked like on these puzzles. “And I spent a lot of time with my grandma, and she would just give me jigsaw puzzles all the time. “I was just more comfortable around my family and parents,” she sighs. “But when it was music time and they brought out the guitar, I knew every song, and they were like, ‘Wow! She really loves music time!’”Īround her Placerville, California homestead, Sheetz was encouraged to express herself-which she did, by singing along to Miami Sound Machine and Disney soundtrack ditties, of all things. I just didn’t speak until there was something necessary to be said, I guess.” In grade school, she became known as “a total creeper,” she adds-a shadowy student always skulking around the perimeter but never contributing much. And that kind of lasted for…I dunno…for a long time, until high school, actually. ![]() And for a long while, I liked to organize the bookshelves in my classroom, so the teachers all thought that I was a little strange, because I just didn’t talk that much. “I was more of an observer than a talker. “I was kind of a weirdo, and I don’t really know why,” the singer can now readily admit. But a showbiz career was the last thing Sheetz had on her mind as a shy loner of a kid. The cinematic, Fleetwood Mac-sleek sound this keyboardist/guitarist arrived at with her three co-vocalists-Robbie Arnett, Graham Fink and Andrew Heringer-might have coalesced on their eponymous 2012 debut and its sunny singles “1957” and “Don’t You Give Up On Me.” But it definitely gelled on dreamy new tracks like “Heartless,” “White Lies,” “Save Yourself,” and a smoke-wisped “Lonely Eyes,” under the auspices of Sia/Ellie Goulding producer Jesse Shatkin, and backed by legendary drummer Joey Waronker. And, while they still utilize their multiple male/female lead vocals, especially those of Marlana Sheetz and Robbie Arnett, Milo Greene's streamlined, early-'80s, Moroder-soaked atmosphere works best when Sheetz is at the mike, applying her burnished, resonant coo to cuts like "White Lies," "Heartless," and "Lie to Me." Of course, Arnett, with his throaty, sandpaper voice, along with the other male members of the band, can be heard throughout the album and the juxtaposition between Sheetz and her bandmates certainly adds a tangible layer of drama to Control.For Marlana Sheetz, it’s been a long, strange trip leading to Control, the sophomore set from her oddly dubbed California combo Milo Greene. Think artists like the xx and Jessie Ware, and you're fairly close the the sound Milo Greene achieve here. Clearly, if the group's touchstones for the first album were the multiple harmonies of Fleet Foxes and the frenetic Afro-pop of Vampire Weekend, then Control is all icy R&B and sharp-edged, '80s-influenced post-punk. In some ways, the move brings to mind the stylistic change that occurred in bands like Jefferson Airplane and Fleetwood Mac as they transitioned from the acoustic-, folk-, and blues-influenced style of '60s and '70s rock to the synth-heavy, image-conscious aesthetic of the '80s. Working with producer/drummer Joey Waronker ( Beck, Paramore) and engineer Jesse Shatkin ( Kylie Minogue, Sia), Milo Greene have crafted an inspired collection of songs that touch upon such influences as Giorgio Moroder-esque synth pop, modern chillwave-infused R&B, and experimental post-punk. The album follows up the group's self-titled 2012 debut, and finds the previously introspective and folky five-member Los Angeles unit moving in a more sonically adventurous, rhythmically varied direction. The sophomore full-length album from California's Milo Greene, 2015's Control, provides an excellent showcase for the group's melodic and moody pop sound. ![]()
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