We’ve had our share of Studio Milwaukee frequent flyers. Wishy visited us twice in eight months, Rubblebucket seem to have a cool new prop ready every time they drop by, and Valerie June always resets our cosmic balance when she steps inside the building.
But the Studio Milwaukee artist most familiar with our stage sat in the spotlight Thursday afternoon for, curiously, her very first session.
That contradiction is made possible by the fact that the multitalented, hyper-hyphenate B~Free is not only a singer, songwriter, producer, flautist and general musician extraordinaire; she’s also the program director of Grace Weber’s Music Lab and in that role has guided the musical aspirations of countless Milwaukee-area students from the stage in our performance space.
It’s still possible, however, to know a place well and see it in a different light — something B~Free noted at the top of her performance. “It is so nice to be back in this capacity. I spent so much time on this stage as the director for Music Lab that I forget that I actually do this for a living, too.”
She pointed this out with a laugh and then, after introducing her accompanist and husband Quinten Farr, reminded everyone how much she brings to the stage as an artist.
Perched on a stool alongside her flute — named “Lucille” after a classic Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode — B~Free effortlessly navigated her register while starting her set with a couple selections from her just-released album, Millennial Symphony. As she explained to HYFIN’s Anthony Foster during the mid-set interview, the title is a nod to the record’s generational theme (“What it's like to navigate life in this 30-something space,” as she put it) and its sound.
“I am very much a child of the 90s and 2000s,” she explained. “Everything that sonically influenced me as an artist, as a creative came from that era. So when I was putting everything together, I wanted it to sound very much like this is dipping its foot back into the 2000s pop and the Timbaland, Missy Elliott kind of vibes.”
Well-produced, impeccably performed music is timeless, however, and that’s what you’ll hear in this Studio Milwaukee Session.
Millennial Symphony is available now everywhere you listen to music and direct from the artist on the Even platform. B~Free also has a hometown album-release show Thursday night at Radio Milwaukee and will kick off the new season of Grace Weber’s Music Lab on Friday.
Studio MKE: B~Free set list
- “Smoke and Mirrors”
- “Adulting 101”
- “No More”
- “I Produce My Own S***” (non-broadcast performance)
