Every week, 88Nine brings you a fresh track from a Milwaukee artist. They send it to us. We post it here. You hear it before everyone else.
For today's premiere, we've got a pastoral single from the Milwaukee chamber-pop quartet Warhola Cats. Stream "Make Me" below.
First impressions
Is there any instrument in rock more reliably welcome than a cello? The instrument adds a lush edge to "Make Me," Warhola Cats' second single from their upcoming album "Eros + Vibes," due in November. That sweetness balances out the song's thunder: "Make Me" is an unflinching examination of power imbalances and the forces that make people hurt each other, in ways both big and small.
Artists' statement
This song is about energy exchanges and boundaries. Interpersonal dynamics exist on a spectrum. They can be positive, subtle, playful, neutral, or harmful, insidious, draining.
An experience got me thinking about the dynamics of power and desire. People’s baggage bubbles up indelicately. Not just men hollering from cars, or perpetrators of abuses. To some extent, we’re all playing out patterns from our pasts, sometimes to damaging degrees. What we think we deserve, or what others deserve from us, comes from our experience.
We all desire things from the people we interact with...that’s what it means to be alive… seeking connection. This song comes from examining that tension, and considering my own part: what I am willing to give, and what I expect, fear, and hope for from others.