With sunny days and warm nights, we’re ready for another summer filled with unforgettable music from local and regional artists.
The May edition of “The Stratton Playlist” will heat things up with power pop, jazz fusion, indie folk, hip-hop, grungy alt rock, heavy prog, metal and country.
Mike & Joe blend folk and rock influences on their latest album, “What About You?” Photo by Brandon Fecteau
As modern beat poets, Mike & Joe distinctly carve new pathways to folk rock.
The Detroit-Ann Arbor first-cousin duo of Mike Benoit and Joe Provenzano etches experimental elements of dreamy psych pop soundscapes, rich retro textures and deep mystical lyricism into traditional harmonized folk rock on their second and latest album, What About You?
“Our little tagline is ‘folk rock and beyond,’ and there’s a lot of folk rock on that first record, but when you get to the second record, you hear my crazy ass solos on ‘One Trick Pony?’ We’re able to do that because we trust each other so much as songwriters, and through doing that, we arrive at what we feel is an original, seamless collaboration that’s something special,” said Provenzano, co-lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist.
“If that trust and expansive, multi-genre appreciation didn’t exist in both of us, then it would be extremely stifling to our collaborative process, so that’s why we just trust each other and rock on.”
Throughout What About You?, Mike & Joe rock beyond typical folk genre boundaries and jam into new territories draped in jazzy prog, baroque pop and singer-songwriter sensibilities. They seamlessly weave a broad spectrum of folk and rock influences, including The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty and My Morning Jacket, into 10 captivating, nonconformist tracks.
“They were making this music that was informed by their own enthusiastic study of history and filtering it through their own modern, original minds. It was like finding out this whole army of like-minded people existed, and they were acting, and they were doing so with power. It’s the extra torch-bearing, energizing thing that made us demand even more of ourselves and feel even more of a kindred association with those acts,” Provenzano said.
Provenzano and Benoit share this kindred association thematically through several internal struggles – heartbreak, inauthenticity, disillusionment, desensitization of violence and self-doubt – while externally chronicling their creative growth as songwriters, lyricists and musicians. Track by track, they share different emotional challenges, unearth hidden meanings and reflect poignantly on their newfound growth on What About You?
In this April Spotify compilation, you’ll feel rejuvenated with experimental jazz, timeless techno, heavy alt rock, spirited folk rock, uplifting Americana, imaginative Tom Petty renditions and bouncy hip-hop from Michigan and other regional artists.
With sunny days and warm nights, we’re ready for another summer filled with unforgettable music from local and regional artists.
The Stratton Setlist 