Every week, Milwaukee Music Premiere connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.
Musicians have never been shy about tackling the topic of a higher power. Joan Osborne gave us a thought experiment about it. Tori Amos got fairly truculent about it. On the track we’re premiering here, Andrew Jambura sort of lets it creep in as he navigates a stream of consciousness that flows through some pretty funky areas.
“Can U Spell God” represents a re-emergence for Jambura, who played with local outfit Sat. Nite Duets but hadn’t released any solo material for quite a while — nearly 10 years, in fact. A co-owner of Silver City Studios, he decided to step into the booth and bring that music-less spell to an end with a track that takes a trip through Jambura’s meandering mind.
“This song is an impressionistic perspective on recent thoughts,” he shared with us. “To me, it’s about making music, boredom, having fun, evil, and searching for a sense of swagger.”
He found it with help from some old friends. Nearly all of the musicians you hear on the song played in his former group, including Joe Guszkowski, Chris Frahm, Derek Marinello, Steve Strupp, Ben Gucciardi, and Andy Spadafora “on Clarence Clemons-style tenor saxophone.” Amid their contributions, lyrics roll out like a confession:
By and by
I made my fortune telling perfect lies
I stacked it high
Wealth and gold and things that love can’t buy
It passed me by
A motor car that looked just like my life
You can use the player at the top of the page to listen to “Can U Spell God” ahead of its official release this Friday, Feb. 2.
