The Dust of Men

Music is all about feeling something. Whether the instruments pull your heart into a specific rhythm, the lyrics spark a connection, the nostalgically whimsical emotions from your past come roaring back or if, sometimes, the music just makes you stop and think. The Dust of Men has saturated their debut album, What the Morning Shows, with Feeling, making it nearly impossible to not be rattled with emotion from their music.

The band composes what they refer to as “testimony music,” and it’s exactly what you imagined it would be throughout the entire album experience. Think back to the time of back woods Southern tent revivals, and welcome The Dust of Men, the modern-day version. The spirit in their music is sincerely passionate it becomes contagious. Their songs seem to inspire a universal union, a sound that allows you to mold it into your own.

What the Morning Shows was recorded out of Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver) Wisconsin-based studio, and The Dust of Men even names Bon Iver as a musical influence. You can almost instantly relate that back to Vernon’s knack for storytelling within music.

There’s a vitality and desperation in this album that lit up my soul. I’m feeling spiritually reawakened and broken, and in all that still finding peace, with The Dust of Men as the soundtrack. - HM Magazine

I’d like you to imagine a house: not just any house – a home. It’s an inviting home, even in the coldest of winters, filled with sunshine and the comforting roar of a fire burning steadily in the hearth. It’s the kind of home you hope to be invited to on Thanksgiving; the kind of home you’d love to wake up in on Christmas; the kind of home you’d feel comfortable laughing, crying, and sharing stories in. Now, imagine this home is built on an aggressive foundation of alternative rock, framed in with folk, and roofed with revival music – think Depression-era tin, O Brother Where Art Thou style.

This house, which always feels like a home, is actually one of Eau Claire’s newest bands: The Dust of Men. Their debut album, What the Morning Shows, is set to drop Dec. 6. Grant Schultz is on vocals, rhythm guitar, and piano; Colin Carey is on drums; Jon Wojcik is on banjo; John Roemhild is on bass; and Clark Strasburg (affectionately known as The Reverb Sherpa) is on lead guitar.

The five-piece plays what they like to call “testimony music.” It would be remiss of me to call it Christian rock because they don’t, and it’s not. With Christian rock, the music is often simply a vehicle for its message, and that emphasis on message often comes at the expense of musical quality and diversity. While The Dust of Men is clearly on a journey together, from the darkness into light, their hauntingly powerful instrumentation stands shoulder to shoulder with Schultz’s soaring vocals and refined storytelling. What holds them together – the load-bearing wall in their home – is the genuine love that they have for each other and for their faith. This is deeply passionate and contagiously spiritual music. It appeals – regardless of one’s religious affiliations – to the core of what it means to be human: the questions, the struggle, and the hope.

Schultz, taking the long view on his own musical evolution, said as much: “I used to see music as something that expresses the unanswered ache in each of us, but writing these songs and playing with these guys, I discovered it’s not about the ache. It’s about the answer to that ache. It’s about the joy.”

What the Morning Shows is an auditory rollercoaster. While the band members’ eclectic influences – Sigur Ros, All the Bright Lights, Matthew and the Atlas, Radiohead, Bon Iver, Max Roach, The Roots, and This Will Destroy You – all decorate the rooms of this home, The Dust of Men has a sound all its own. Many of the songs were inspired by Schultz’s obsessive listening to the 1939 field recordings by John and Ruby Lomax, who preserved more than 700 songs on their year-long road trip through the Depression-era American South. “What got to me was how haunting, raw, and spare it was, and how nobody was apologizing for that,” Schultz said. All the band members agreed that those gritty, emotionally honest sounds – of both survival and revival – became the band’s creative starting line.

What evolved from there is a tour de force that can be witnessed in all of their live performances. Carey’s organic, heart-beat drumming lays the foundation for Roemhild’s stunningly dynamic bass work, which, in turn, creates an open floor plan for Wojcik to roam in and out of with his bright, crisp banjo work. Every room is painted with a thick coating of Strasburg’s buttery reverb and velvety guitar licks. The sunshine that floods the whole structure is the shocking range of Schultz’s vocal prowess; from smooth and measured to raw and unrestrained, his lyrical stylings are articulate and emotionally stirring. What the Morning Shows can feel old-timey with its jangly rhythms, gang vocals, and dirge drumming, but it can also feel lithe, elegant, and ultra-modern. The one common denominator is tone; it’s all so warm.

So how did the band manage to capture all that on a single record? They could not mention Zach Hanson’s name fast enough. Hanson recorded, mixed, and mastered the album at Justin Vernon’s secluded, world-class recording studio – April Base – while Volcano Choir was preparing for their current international tour. The band credits Hanson’s patient, intuitive, and meticulous work in the studio, as well as the natural warmth, isolation, and beautiful vintage equipment of April Base itself, for the album’s tonal signature. They testified repeatedly to how the kindness they were shown by Vernon and his crew – as well as the freedom they felt to simply be themselves in the studio – helped them to find their true sound as a band: a sound that music lovers in Eau Claire, and beyond, will likely find themselves “testifying” about very soon. - Volume One

Before I say anything about the Dust of Men or their new album, I feel compelled to say that I know Grant Schultz, songwriter and lead vocalist of the band. He has been a friend of mine since 2006. When we met, I had no idea of the incredible musical talent that lives inside him. In the years since, I have seen glimpses of it surface, as he has led worship and played several of his original songs at Valleybrook Church. And then, in September, the Dust of Men played a full set in front of several hundred people in Valleybrook’s auditorium, and Grant’s talent (as well as that of the rest of the band) was on full display. They filled the room with sounds and words full of grit, sweetness, defiance, intensity, and comfort. It was a thing of beauty.

And now, we get to listen to that beauty in the comfort of our own homes. The Dust of Men have just released their debut album, “What the Morning Shows,” and it is, in a word, incredible. There is much to love in this 11-song collection, from the comfort offered in “Children Come Running” and “My Beloved” to the defiance against evil in “40 Days” (a song my four year-old son belts out EVERY time we listen to it) and “Thought My Back Would Break”. And then there’s the vulnerability and emotional intensity of “Constant Thread” and “Oh What Light Is Shining Now,” which is my favorite song on the album.

Jason Splichal of Volume One did a great job of highlighting the musical influences and roots on the album (http://volumeone.org/articles/2013/11/20/6408_rising_from_the_dust). They are varied and distinct, which is one of the reasons Dust of Men’s music has appealed to me from the beginning. When I heard them play back in September, I walked away well aware that elements of their sound were derivative of various genres. At the same time, there was something very original and creative about their style and presentation. Again, it was this tremendous mix of grittiness, comfort, defiance, and various other elements… you know, a lot like real life.

And, therein is the real value and beauty of “What the Morning Shows,” in my opinion. It has this “constant thread,” if you will, of authenticity throughout. When I listen to music, there are times in which I feel like I can sense authenticity. It’s that moment in which I feel like I have an emotional connection with the artist, when they seem to be laying their heart bare in their music. That dynamic is certainly there in this album. But for me, the feeling of authenticity goes further… deeper. You see, I know the heart of the man who wrote and sang the songs on the album. And I know that, in “What the Morning Shows,” Grant has laid his heart bare for all the world to hear. - Tomme Suab