Each Measure Feature: The Venz

FEATURE

The Venz Slow Motel is a completely dreamy short story of love and loneliness told with the buzzing neon lights of on-the-run rock and roll. Self-identified as “musical storytelling,” the new duo’s first track started as a college assignment and climbed its way to an exciting release, set apart by its ability to create strong visceral narrative. Two apathetic protagonists are represented by the natural duet (and real-life engagees) Chris and Jess. Their chemistry behind the music translates beautifully; their sharp voices paint clear cinematic images of the lingering occupants of the so-called “Slow Motel.”

Delicate guitar and keys introduce the scene. Then in plunge the drums, a steady pulse setting the pace for the rest of the tale. The characters of the story, John and Mary, are set under the overcast gloom of life’s mundane struggles, both longing for something to change. The atmospheric and warbled keys seem to reflect that heaviness. Later, with a rousing chorus and crunchy guitar riffs, their stories take on an epic quality like an outburst of all the big feelings one can hardly express in the dusty rhythms of everyday life. A sliding bridge inverts the focus, using first-person point of view, suggesting that the two vocals are also not nameless narrators but perhaps fellow occupants of the motel, maybe unassuming witnesses who also seek something else, fantasizing about running away.

There are some fun little surprises in the mix. Right after the bridge, a screeching vocal track is heard in the back, excellently balanced on the edge of horrific. A few other screamy moments happen, contrasting with an ethereal, almost operatic moment to close out the song. I found those subtleties a real treat, with exactly the right balance between the romantic small-town getaway drama and something more sinister akin to one of Hitchcock's masterpieces.

So is Slow Motel an actual place? A memory of the time gone by? A metaphor for the seemingly purgatorial settings we seem to frequent every day? One thing is for sure: it is a song, and rather a good one at that.

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