Spend enough time studying the past, and the natural inclination is to connect to the present, to make it feel closer. For those as studious as Kansas City musicians Erin McGrane and Jeff Freling, it practically flows through them.
Performing as ukelele-guitar duo Victor & Penny, the two breathe life into the bygone Tin Pan Alley era with sweet pop tunes, old-timey getups and stunning instrumentation. McGrane and Freling have sifted through countless hours of prohibition era music, from the Mills Brothers to Harry Woods, so it inevitably forms the basis of their sonic palette.
“That particular genre is such a deep, almost unmined field of great music,” Freling says.
The word that comes to mind is “historians,” though when that tag is suggested to them via telephone one July Friday afternoon, McGrane is quick to correct.
“Sometimes we say we do ‘sonic archeology,’” McGrane says. “We’re not historians but we’re diggers.”
Together, their experience is a veritable oil drill. McGrane sang in a women’s a cappella group in college, covering the Andrews Sisters and other vocal artists of the ‘20s and ‘30’s. She immersed herself in the time period at the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
When she met Freling, he had already been neck-deep in virtuosic guitar work from the likes Django Reinhardt and Kelly Christian. Though they knew different versions of “Limehouse Blues,” the match was perfect.
“We started out with other people’s material, but it was the exact right vehicle to get us where we are now and where we’re going,” Freling says.
Whether Roaring Twenties historians or genre reconstructionists, the pair — now an item — have perfected their duet routine through more than 650 performances since releasing LP Side By Side in 2012. It allows them to perform with a Hammond V3 player (as they did the night after we spoke), in a country opry or in their preferred medium as duo.
Over the last year, in writing new music, they’ve challenged themselves to overhaul that old sound through their contemporary music influences. Both played in huge bands in the 1990’s, McGrane’s with two drummers and an electric violinist, Freling’s with sprawling horn sections. Freling toured for more than a decade with Blue Man Group (“I stood in the same hallway as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant because of that gig!”). They count Elvis Costello, Beck and Paul Simon as influences.
Merging those distinctly separate generations gives legs to their musical vision. McGrane says that journey has lit her brain on fire, and with how Freling describes it, one empathizes.
“We were talking about this record we’re getting ready to make, and we’re like “what would it sound like if Hoagie Carmichael and Thom Yorke got together?” Freling says, still contemplating such an unlikely combination.
Listening to their most recent recordings, it’s hard to get a sense of how they’d leap from sweet, earnest prohibition-era pop to anything resembling The Eraser, for instance. But the outlandish one-two punch Freling refers to is more in their songwriting approach, their adventurous attitude towards crafting songs.
That starts with building upon the duo of Victor & Penny as the project’s heart, something they’ve done with the Loose Change Orchestra. Adding upright bassist Rick Willoughby and clarinet player James Isaac allowed McGrane and Freling to cake layers on top of the group’s confectionary pop. Carrying two soloists in Freling and Isaac introduced a new dynamic to their live performances.
“I like to say [they] chase tail like two squirrels around a tree,” McGrane says. “There’s just a joy and energy to that that is electrifying to us and I think that translates to the audience.”
Though they’ll perform at Lincoln’s Crescent Moon this Friday as the Loose Change Orchestra (RSVP here), and remain highly interested in sonic depth, McGrane says that the duo of Victor & Penny will always lie at the core. McGrane likens it to walking a tightrope, and in many ways she’s spot on. It intimately exposes them before the audience, forcing them to make connections with fans and each other. It pushes them to play their best.
“There is a power and magic in that duo show that we love,” McGrane says. “No matter if we end up with 27 people onstage or a string quartet behind us, we’ll never stop doing that duo.”