‘Obviously, we make songs for the sad folks’: BeachKitty gears up for 934 Fest

BeachKitty took multiple forms early in its existence, dual singer-songwriters Milly May and Keano Smith auditioning different sounds and styles in an effort to see what most resonated with them.

“Early on, we were really inspired by dream-pop and psychedelic stuff,” said Smith, who joined May for an early September interview, pointing to the likes of Beach House, Tame Impala, and Mac DeMarco as early influences. “So, we were going for a bit of a softer sound, and then we discovered grunge and shoegaze. And as we got more into it, we realized that sound matched the emotions we wanted to convey, which allowed us to pull everything together.”

The results of this sonic coalescence ripple throughout the band’s new album, Cool Breeze, which releases digitally on Tuesday, Sept. 15, the musicians crafting swirling snow globes of dreamy guitar noise that pull inspiration from Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and shoegaze pioneers such as My Bloody Valentine. This muscular, melodic instrumentation also serves as an outward armor, of sorts, for May and Keano’s oft-fragile words, which tend to document emotionally tense moments between the longtime couple.

“Obviously, we make songs for the sad folks, for the sad souls in the world. And some of them do make me cry a little, especially one like ‘Believe You Then,’” May said of the buzzing slow-burner, which unfolds as a pep-talk delivered at an emotional low point (“Arent you tired of being sad?” she sings). “I kind of felt like I found my voice on that one, because I kind of let it all go, everything I was feeling. It’s really as simple as this, and it’s kind of silly, but we fight and good songs come from it.”

“And I wouldn’t say it’s a complete reenactment, but some of [the lyrics] are verbatim things we’ve literally shouted at each other during arguments,” said Smith, who will join his BeachKitty bandmates in performing at 934 Fest in Milo-Grogan on Saturday, Sept. 12. (The two-day affair, which kicks off at 934 Gallery on Friday, Sept. 11, also features turns from Times New Viking, DANA, and Jay Swifa, among others; click here for a full schedule of performers and set time.) “So, yeah, a lot of the songs take us back to these sad or painful memories of us not getting along or feeling lonely and desperately longing for things to work out.”

Then there are other songs such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” on which the two pine for a full reset, wishing they could obliterate painful past memories to restart with a clean slate, a la Jim Carey’s character in the 2004 Michel Gondry film of the same name.

Both May and Smith said they generally find it easier to communicate via song, the guitar having the effect of removing any lingering hesitancy. For May, at least, there’s an inherited aspect to this embrace, having grown up watching her musician father, Todd May (Lilybandits, Lydia Loveless), adopt a similar approach to his craft.

“I know he wrote a lot about my mom and about the different things he couldn’t express, like how much he loved her, or the times he felt he didn’t get love back and their back-and-forth relationship,” May said. “So, that’s probably where some of it comes from for me, hearing that at a young age.”

Smith, in contrast, traced his pull toward songwriting to an early fascination with hip-hop, recalling how he would explore different rhyme schemes, leaning into the page as a means to untangle emotions that he struggled to express in other ways. At the time, Smith said he was also compelled by a fascination with “music star culture,” as he explained it, an interest he has since shed like weathered snakeskin. 

“Being young, you get starstruck by the glamour and the Hollywood aspect of it all, but as I got older and more introverted, I realized I was doing this because I needed to make music,” he said. “And at a certain point, that fame aspect started to mean less to me than just being able to play music and do what I love around people who are likeminded.”

This creative drive is something that Smith can struggle to distance himself from, at times, with May telling of instances when he’ll profess a need to take a break after completing a song in order “to let himself feel human again,” only for fresh inspiration to strike the next day. “He’ll wake up and be like, ‘Oh, I had another song idea,’” she said. “But I guess creatives gotta create.”

While the two have been writing songs together a half-dozen years or so, BeachKitty only took root last spring, playing its first show at Cafe Bourbon Street opening for Micah Schnabel and Vanessa Jean Speckman. “We were really nervous, and personally, we didn’t think it went well, but we got a pretty warm reception afterwards,” Smith said. “And since then, anything we’ve been offered, we’ve just said yes. And everything’s just been snowballing since.”