Fever Dreams

After just over three years since their last CD, Milwaukee trip-hop duo Endless Blue have broken the silence and released their third album, entitled "Fever Dreams". Employing a large cast of guest musicians, core members Laura Hillman and Nick Mitchell went about crafting their new release meticulously and patiently, completely rewriting some of the album's ten songs multiple times. Delayed by work on the "Six Bullets" soundtrack and Hillman's work in the synthpop band "Somegirl", the album finally solidified in the spring and summer of 2008. Musically, "Fever Dreams" works as a bridge between the ambient electronics of the self-titled first album and the live edge of the sophomore effort "Smoke Through It". It blends and focuses the two styles deftly, creating organic soundscapes that slowly build to a powerful guitar driven crescendos, only to drop down into a whispered lyric over a single instrument. Hillman has similarly focused and honed her vocal style in "Fever Dreams". From the breathy sadness of "Her" to the jazzy scat of the title track, her voice can no longer be easily described as "sounds like X". Added into this mix is Mitchell's newfound appreciation for hip-hop production, which shines through with immediate, driving beats and rumbling, syncopated bass lines. Founded in 2003 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Endless Blue grew out of the remnants of the Madison, Wisconsin electro-rock band STATE4. Desiring to do something a bit mellower and a bit more in the downtempo/trip-hop genre, Endless Blue released their first album in the spring of 2004 and supported it with a short US tour and numerous regional shows around the Midwest. The band relocated to Milwaukee in early 2005 and have played a handful of shows in the area in support of their second album, "Smoke Through It".