Beyond the Pale

posted in: Artist Features • Rock

Some of the best music is born in the bedroom. A good idea only requires a little space and privacy to take root and grow into something truly remarkable. Brothers Michael and Matt Reisenauer began their band, Pale Young Gentleman, with friend Brett Randall in an unused bedroom in Madison, Wisconsin in 2004. Since then, the group has evolved from piano, guitar and drums to include an entire string section with violins, viola and cello. And, the result is truly remarkable.

Quirky, mercurial and finely wrought, the music of Pale Young Gentlemen ranges from pseudo Bavarian jigs to delicate music box melodies. Me and Nikolai is theatrical piano rock that brims with camp. Michael Reisenauer sings And we saw her standing there / She was in her underwear as the piano pulses and the violin heaves. Play this in an Eastern European pub and drunken dancing is sure to erupt among the townsfolk. Then there’s My Light Maria, an elegiac Piano Man of sorts for whiskey-soaked sailors in a seaside speakeasy. But things don’t always rollick and roll. As a War is a quiet and contemplative narrative, accompanied by simple strings and piano. And Shadow on the Wall is a haunted, gothic melody that sounds like it was lifted from the Addam’s Family party mix.

The fun in listening to Pale Young Gentlemen is experiencing the songs as eccentric characters who strut and fret their way across the stage. Not everyone’s into musical theater, but theatrical music is another story. And Pale Young Gentleman’s is one worth hearing.