The Beginning
Skittish-Voluptuous is a grand musical vision. Started in 2006 by long time friends and collaborators Brian Redmond and Gabriel Cruser Skittish-Voluptuous has satisfied every aspect of its original intention. To have a female vocalist singing great melodies with thought provoking lyrics backed by two innovative percussionists and complex electronic arrangements.
Starting with a unique song writing process Gabriel and Brian wrote a half dozen songs before auditioning female singers. With a harmonic bed established by one of the pair, Gabriel would then write the lyrics and melody. This simple song would then get passed to Brian (a seasoned electronic musician with several solo releases under alias Vers on Dysgenic Records) and before listening to it, would remove all instrumentation except the vocal. He would proceed to build a mix around the vocal until there was a completely new arrangement accompanying the song. This resulted in diverse and numerous mixes of the same songs.
Six months and six songs later, the two were confident in their recordings and ready to offer girls the opportunity to sing with SV. Posting on craigs list and other want ad venues, the two invited women to audition for the band. They posted three songs on myspace and allowed the girls to choose two out of the three to sing at the audition. They received many responses and auditioned 5 girls before finding the one. Then…
Caitlin Millerd
Easily the most appropriate singer of the choices it was incredibly convenient that she also lived in the area. Skittish-Voluptuous is based in Lowell, MA and Caitlin was the only girl who auditioned from the area. In fact, she was attending UML where both Brian and Gabriel had graduated with sound recording degrees. It was official; Caitlin and Skittish started recording immediately.
A few months past and it was clear that Caitlin was the right choice. Aside from her being profusely busy, she was the perfect singer. Always on point and cute in the studio, she contributed ideas and energy that only inspired. She had fantastic control, and a sound that Brian and Gabe had never heard before. They needed to get the rest of the band together.
The Band
Everything was exceeding expectations. The songs were great, Caitlin was great, there was momentum in the works. What was needed was the rest of the band. Although part of the charm with this formula is that a master piece recording band is achieved with three people, Brian and Gabriel always wanted a bigger sound and an inspiring live show. Another percussionist and a bassist were necessary.
Brandon Downs the bassist has a history of history of his own. Playing in lowercase p with Gabriel made Brandon a natural fit. He was the go to bassist, and the perfect fit for the part. Mike Murry was a friend and a really tight drummer and joined the team shortly after.
Summary
With the inventive and intuitive direction of Brian Redmond and Gabriel Cruser, Skittish-Voluptuous is a musical-production force to be reckoned with. S-V, bringing the importance of a good song to the industrial focus of a good beat.
