Firefly Bands: Drumming Out with Milo Greene

“We used to call ourselves the Four-Headed Monster,” Robbie Arnett said.

It’s no surprise Firefly Music Festival was Milo Greene’s first performance in Delaware. The LA-based cinematic pop band broke out songs from both their albums, Milo Greene and newly-released Control. When I met with them, they were halfway through their sets for the day.

It was hot, even in the shade of the small green room, but such is festival life in the middle of a 90 degree June. Beards, minimalist style, and tired, attractive faces surrounded me. Water and beer were abound as we sat on couches and talked about the music of Milo Greene.

The four-headed monster – AKA Marlana Sheetz, Andrew Heringer, Graham Fink, and Robbie Arnett – was how the band described the wave of voices melting together in the harmonies of their first album. In Control, however, solo voices emerge as a breathy, upbeat accompaniment to the album’s percussive focus.

“For Control, we really wanted to try new things,” Arnett said.

All four musicians are both singers and songwriters. The weight of their writing personalities could have easily been a snag in the production of their sophomore album, but there is obvious success in the way they were able to come together and find a balance – hence the title Control. In it, drums and stacked harmonies are at the forefront. The feel is life as a movie, stinging yet uplifting.

“The first album was recorded in a cabin in Washington, so it was really organic,” Arnett said. “But this one was transplanted in LA, so it’s our version of what the city is to us.”

Milo Greene’s move away from folk begins with what Arnett describes as "the drum-central groovy tone” of the album. That sound started with “What’s the Matter”, a haunting track on a love that persists just for the sake of it.

“The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory,” Sheetz said.

While the album is sonically upbeat, the lyrics air on the side of nostalgia, a soothing ache. The contrast was not intentional, but the balance between the lyrics and the sound feels natural.

Even though Control was just released this year, Milo Greene is already onto the next album.

“We want to produce it faster,” Sheetz said.

Aside from efficiency, the musicians believe inevitably that the next album will have some balance with what they were experiencing with the first two.

After touring for six weeks, with Foster the People for part of it, the quintet will have a three week break from the fun and exhaustion before they continue on throughout the U.S.

“Firefly is a small celebration,” they said.

Because of their self-described “strong writing personalities”, I had the musicians of Milo Greene give me a few words on what those personalities are for each of them. But honestly, the photographs are pretty self-explanatory.

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