Humanwine

Humanwine‘s songs are often a grotesque take on proletariat life. But so enchanting is lead singer Holly Brewer that lyrics such as Will this dust ever settle/Even better now the sky is bent/I’ve got a stomach full of finger-nails/And another’s femur on my head will propel listeners into believing they’re hearing a vaudeville act. All the band’s songs are based on life in a fantasy world called the Vinland. Like onion skin peeled away in layers, each burst of trumpet waltzes or frenzied drumming unfolds to bring listeners closer to the center of the unusual tale. In the offbeat style of an anarchist Dresden Dolls, the Boston duo relays the story of a society of mindless “cogs” who toil in factories to appease a totalitarian ruler. Even without the story, though, Humanwine’s radical vision is a dark cabaret you won’t soon forget.