Venus Hum
Country of origin:
U.S.
Type of music generally:
Electronic pop, from dreamy to dance-y
Status:
Most recent release, Best Remodeled (remixes, 2016); most recent release of original material, Mechanics & Mathematics (2009)
See also:
Venus Hum's site
Comparisons:
Sarah McLachlan vocally; Björk, and Lamb musically
Covers/own material:
Own/co-written/covers
General comments:
speaking of beautiful voices, i'm amazed that no one has mentioned annette strean of the band venus hum! they're a synth-pop band from nashville and their latest (major label) release big beautiful sky is pretty tasty. anybody that likes electronic pop with great vocals would enjoy them. annette reminds me of björk / sarah m. / kirsty thirsk on a couple tracks ("montana" is particularly björk-ish), but she has enough of her own personality to make you forget about comparisons. (cjmacs@micronet.net)
Comments about live performance:
The second openers turned out to be the musical discovery of the year so far: Venus Hum. They are a trio from Nashville (!) fronted by Montana native Annette Strean, who looks like Molly Ringwald circa Pretty In Pink (but with darker hair), and sings like she grew up listening to a *lot* of björk records, which her bio confirms that she did (along with KaTe, which is always a good recommendation). Their music is electronica in the vein of Frou Frou, björk, and Lamb (it occurred to me that I would travel many miles to see a bill with both Lamb and Venus Hum on it). The two boys in the band played racks of keyboards and were armed with iBooks, as was Annette's husband, who sat on a chair on the side of the stage and controlled the (really neat) video projections that accompanied every song. Over it all was Annette's incredible voice, which fit the material perfectly. It also helped that she looked like she was having the time of her life up there on stage.
I would highly recommend checking out Venus Hum if any of the comparisons I mentioned above appeal to you. I'll be keeping an eye on their tour schedule, too — I'd love to see them do their own show sometime. (7/22/03, meth@smoe.org)
Recommended first album:
Big Beautiful Sky
Recordings:
- Venus Hum (1999)
- Switched on Christmas (2000)
- Big Beautiful Sky (2003)
- Songs for Superheroes (2004)
- The Colors in the Wheel (2006)
- Mechanics & Mathematics (2009)
- Live: Mechanics & Mathematics (live, 2010)
- Best Remodeled (remixes, 2016)
Switched on Christmas
Release info:
2000
Availability:
Wide
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Comments:
This is a fun EP with lots of electronics and different levels of vocal distortion in the songs, even a short instrumental piece. I especially love the adorable "Suzy Snowflake" which is not recorded much. The special edition (circa 2009? and available for free at Bandcamp) has 2 additional songs ("What I Really Want for Christmas" and a not entirely effective rendition of "I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm". (JoAnn Whetsell)
Big Beautiful Sky
Release info:
2003—MCA Records—088 113 198 2
Availability:
Wide
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Group members:
Kip Kubin—computers and synthesizers
Tony Miracle—computers and synthesizers, guitars, bass, vocals; string arrangement (9)
Annette Strean—vocals
Guest artists:
Sean O'Hagen—string arrangements (5, 8, 12)
Marcus Holdaway—cello; string arrangements (5, 8, 12)
Jackie Norrie—violin (5, 8, 12)
Sally Herbert—violin (5, 8, 12)
Brian Wright—viola (5, 8, 12)
Jacob Lawson—viola (9); violin (4, 7)
Julie Adams—cello (9)
Christopher Moon—snare drum (3)
Produced by:
Venus Hum
Comments:
I really enjoy this album. It's mostly upbeat, dance-y, electronic pop. The opening tracks "Hummingbirds" and "Montana" are immediately catchy, but the rest took me a little longer to warm up to. It gets a lot of comparisons to björk, which I think are overstated, though she's clearly an influence (and "Springtime #2" has pretty björk-like vocals). (JoAnn Whetsell)I snapped it up—and haven't been able to stop listening to it. This past weekend woj and I were in Boston for a couple of Red Sox games, and the weather was perfect. Driving around Boston with Venus Hum blasting on the car stereo was just the thing—it's a perfect summer driving record. (meth@smoe.org)
The Colors in the Wheel
Release info:
2006—Nettwerk—0 6700 30594 2 8
Availability:
Wide
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Group members:
Annette Strean
Kip Kubin
Tony Miracle
Guest artists:
Kirk Cornelius—background vocals (8)
Produced by:
Venus Hum
Comments:
Here's the writeup I published on my website, Leonoraschoice.com, in January: What I like best about this trippy electropop trio from Nashville is Annette Strean's amazingly dreamy, sassy, and wistful vocals. Her voice reminds me A LOT of Sarah McLachlan's and on tracks like "Genevieve's Wheel" and "Birds and Fishes" her singing gives me goosebumps all over. This is top notch trip hop, lush and elegant. However, quite a few tracks seem to meander and sometimes it all gets a bit too electro without any apparent reason. I'm not familiar with their debut yet, but judging from the reviews it's more tightly constructed and hook-laden than this. I keep my fingers crossed.
I still do. I've only listened to "Fighting for Love" off the Songs for Superheroes album which is on a par with "Genevieve's Wheel" and then I have been checking out similar artists like Violet Indiana, L'Altra, and Parker and Lily. Venus Hum has more potential than these bands, though. If they got their songwriting together and turned down the electro they would be pure magic :-) (christina_skov@hotmail.com)Not as strong as Big Beautiful Sky, but still good, and it grows on me with each listen. There are a lot more electronic sounds on this album, some of which don't seem to enhance the songs. Overall it's still a lot of fun. (JoAnn Whetsell)
Further info:
Venus Hum contributed the song "To You God On High (Psalm 92)" to the 2005 compilation The Message: Psalms. They have a DVD Mechanics & Mathematics: a Concert Film by Neil Smith available for purchase at their website.Member Tony Miracle released a solo album Pilot Bliss in 2010.
Thanks to JoAnn Whetsell for work on this entry.
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