Allison Rose Williams and Brandon Thomas experiment with a new Pheromone

The Riot Room’s calendar still lists Allison Rose Williams as Monday’s first performer, but the singer tells me to expect something else that night, a new project: Pheromone. There is no online presence for this act, she adds with a smile — no Bandcamp page, no SoundCloud link, no social media. Pheromone’s music isn’t ready to live on those platforms yet — a fact that doesn’t seem to perturb Williams or her creative partner, Brandon Thomas, even as the clock winds down to their first live set.

The two are chatting next to each other at a small table at the 30th Street Filling Station when I get there to talk with them. With their heads bent close together, they look more like a pair of high-schoolers gossiping in the cafeteria than they do two 20-something adults discussing the potential purchase of a high-end vocal processor that Williams wants.

“Those things are so difficult to master,” Thomas says, with a laugh that suggests he’s out of arguments.

It’s not hard to imagine how such a product would figure into the sound that Williams and Thomas are creating with Pheromone. Before our interview, Williams had shared everything that she and Thomas had been working on — video clips, half-finished song snippets — and it painted a heady picture. The duo’s R&B and neosoul reflect Thomas’ intelligent production and Williams’ sultry phrasing.

“I grew up in Florida, and soul and blues isn’t something I’ve ever been around, but it’s always a sound that I’m drawn to,” Williams says. (She moved to Kansas City in September 2013.) “And if I’m being honest, it’s really hard for me, vocally. I feel like it would be easy for me to sing folk or country, but that’s not where my interest is, and I don’t want to settle for something that’s already in my grasp. So I’m taking vocal lessons. I don’t feel like I’m at where I want to be as a singer, but I’m progressing in that direction.”

The two have been working together on Pheromone since April, in what Thomas describes as a piecemeal process: He creates an instrumental melody, adding drums and electronic beats, and Williams meets him with lyrics. He tells me that they have five songs ready to be recorded, and studio time is booked for later in the month. Neither Williams nor Thomas is new to the craft. Thomas, an associate producer with AEG and the Grammy Association, has worked on tracks for national artists; before Pheromone, Williams performed solo and with a four-piece band called Rose & Louise, which earned local radio play.

“I wanted this to be a completely different thing than my other musical projects,” Williams says, “partly because the sound is so different. And I didn’t want to take the full credit for it by saying ‘This is Allison Rose,’ because it’s very much him [Thomas], too.”

The two hope to have an EP ready by early September — too late for this first show together. As for Monday’s gig, its logistics are also a work-in-progress. Translating something that so far has been done on computers in living rooms requires Williams to move among guitar, bass and piano, depending on the song, with Williams to split time between a drum kit and a live production station.

“It’ll look simple, but it’ll sound big,” Thomas tells me, though nothing about the set-up sounds simple. “I’ll be in the back of the stage. The very back,” he says, laughing.

“I’m totally comfortable being the frontwoman,” Williams says. She’s petite, with dark-blond hair and impressively large eyes, and it is no great shock to learn that she models. The spotlight, Thomas is convinced, will welcome her.

“I really believe in Allison,” he tells me, and the compliment seems to unnerve her for the first time in our conversation. “You always want to know you’re working with a good person, and talking to her, you can feel how true she is to her music and how dedicated she is. She knows what she wants, and she’s training to further her expertise. She’s serious about getting better, and I find that really inspiring.”

Williams taps her nails anxiously on the table. The spotlight is one thing, but glory isn’t the point. “There are holes that we help each other out with,” she says. “It helps that we share a path and goals and a deadline.”

She goes on: “My last band, I felt like I was the only one driving it. People didn’t want to practice, they didn’t want to take certain shows because we weren’t getting paid enough money, which was pretty laughable to me. Through my experiences with that, I found that it’s really important to be on the same page and have the same vision as the people you’re working with, and I’ve found that with Brandon.”