The Chambermaids are a seemingly ever-evolving outfit from Minneapolis. They’ve been making music for a decade in various combinations of people, the one constant being brother and sister duo Neil and Martha Weir. Whatever Happened Tomorrow is their third full-length, and their third release on Guilt Ridden Pop following two singles last year. It’s an album that doesn’t like to stay in one place too long. It moves from ambient soundscapes to surf rock and noise pop with ease, never feeling like the pieces aren’t fitting together.
“Whirlpool” gets the album started with a guitar riff you might expect from Beach House’s Alex Scally. The Chambermaids take it a little further than Beach House likes too, getting psychedelic with the guitar work and Neil’s vocals turned up just a touch louder than Martha’s background “ooh”s. It makes for a cool sound. This definitely isn’t a song to listen to passively-it rewards a tenacious listener with headphones and a clear mind. The guitar turns into a scream toward the end and it’s an almost like a good dream turning into a nightmare.
The same sonic template is used for the following two songs. The biggest change is that Martha sings the lead on the third track, “Scraped Away.” “She’s Not Haunted” is an instrumental that acts as a kind of bridge between two worlds on Whatever Happened Tomorrow. It’s like falling through a dark and fuzzy abyss and you can’t tell which way is up anymore. It would work fine as a standalone song, but it blends in perfect with “China Blue.” This one, an oddly dance-y track that reminds me a bit of Chicago’s own California Wives.
The songs on Whatever Happened Tomorrow come and go pretty quick. Only three of the nine tracks cross the three minute mark, and two of them are the last ones on the record. They’ve done a good job of tracking, as it almost feels like one long piece instead of a bunch of different stuff thrown together. The final third of the album is almost all instrumental, and it’s really beautifully done.
You can pick up a copy of Whatever Happened Tomorrow on Bandcamp. It’s $7 for a CD and $12 for Vinyl, with each version you get a digital download. It doesn’t look like The Chambermaids have any shows planned at this point, but you can stay up to date with them on their Facebook page.