What does anyone really do with their life? Move to Madison, WI and start a band! To that effect, Dollhouse Yellow was conceived in Madison, WI in 2016. I mean, really, probably before that, but what date does anyone really use for the genesis of a musical entity with the capability of changing the musical landscape for generations, but with the humility to stay completely unknown to anyone outside of their own basement? However curious and cerebral the origins of the band are, there are a number of undisputed facts: the band consists of two people. The instruments and some of the vocals are performed by Adam. Kelly is also in the band and sings some. You know who is not in the band? Ryan. He was supposed to play guitar, but he got a dog and moved to the other end of the country instead.
This is what Adam looks like with a beard.
In 2016, Dollhouse Yellow released their debut album, Up. Down. All Around. At the time of its release, it was widely hailed as the finest record the band had ever recorded. There is not much more to say about that.
Following the success of their first album, they decided to go a different direction with their sophomore effort. Tired of explaining at parties that they were writing a musical, and then having to explain that there was no way to hear it yet, and then not being invited to any more parties, the band recorded a new album in 2017 entitled Under the Sycamores. It featured the music from the now complete musical that Adam wrote.
Shortly after releasing their musical, they returned to the studio to record their third album without incident. It was released in the Spring of 2018 and coincidentally, the last of the winter snow melted away. Local meteorologists claim that a warm front was the culprit, but the dozens (literally dozens) of Dollhouse Yellow fans suspect otherwise. To wit, one fan reported once seeing Karin Swanson in town months later and said, “She looked like she probably still secretly credits the album release for that break in the weather. I mean, I don’t know if it really was Karin Swanson, but I’m pretty sure it was her, and she just kind of had a Dollhouse Yellow appreciation vibe thing going on, you know?”
Following the success of their first album, they decided to go a different direction with their sophomore effort. Tired of explaining at parties that they were writing a musical, and then having to explain that there was no way to hear it yet, and then not being invited to any more parties, the band recorded a new album in 2017 entitled Under the Sycamores. It featured the music from the now complete musical that Adam wrote.
Shortly after releasing their musical, they returned to the studio to record their third album without incident. It was released in the Spring of 2018 and coincidentally, the last of the winter snow melted away. Local meteorologists claim that a warm front was the culprit, but the dozens (literally dozens) of Dollhouse Yellow fans suspect otherwise. To wit, one fan reported once seeing Karin Swanson in town months later and said, “She looked like she probably still secretly credits the album release for that break in the weather. I mean, I don’t know if it really was Karin Swanson, but I’m pretty sure it was her, and she just kind of had a Dollhouse Yellow appreciation vibe thing going on, you know?”
This is what Adam looks like without a beard. You can tell that it is still him, though, because if you look closely, you can see that I am still very handsome. I mean he is very handsome.
The rest of 2018 included a meteoric rise of the band, seeing them go from playing shows in their own basement to playing that one show in someone else’s basement. However, with success came accompanying excess in spending and consumption. Adam found himself wearing socks without holes in them up to twice a week, while Kelly fell into a vicious habit of eating her lunch up to two hours before lunchtime. Determined to clean up their lives, they retreated to their own basement studio and poured their experiences into their music. About this time, Adam would later be quoted in a band bio as saying, “We wanted to make another album.” They soon settled on an album written as one long love letter, 2019’s A Love More Supreme. It was met with roars of applause (that were unfortunately muffled by a garbage truck driving by at that exact moment, so you probably didn’t hear it) and even scored the band several invitations to highly prestigious events, all of which were tragically lost in the mail.
The band spent most of 2020 in search of a lost Leave it to Beaver episode. Plagued with the crystal clear recollection of Wally working hard to learn the bongos and impress girls (or maybe just one very special girl?) at a party, only to have someone else play them poorly and expose the apparent faux pas that is playing bongos at a party. Then when the potentially very special girl calls Wally up and hears him playing bongos well because of his diligent practicing and flawless technique, she encourages him to come and play bongos at the party, to a universally rapturous reception. As it turns out, the faux pas wasn't playing the bongos. It was half-assing the bongos and then trying to pass it off as hip at a party. The band spent months and months searching for this episode; reading episode summaries and reviews; browsing episode thumbnails for clues. The episode could not be found. They knew that they could not have imagined it. The plot was too developed. They could practically watch the whole thing in their heads. The missing link had to have been what Beaver was doing during all of this, but they couldn't remember. Had they finally lost all connection to reality?
In 2021, the band realized that it was actually an episode of Father Knows Best, not Leave it to Beaver. Relieved of the burden of finding this snippet of television history, they emerged from their year of wandering self-doubt and recorded what would be their fifth album, Smile and Initiate. Surprisingly, none of the songs were about Father Knows Best, or Leave it to Beaver.
The next several years were spent thinking of e-mails that we needed to send; thinking about them every day for weeks on end, and then never actually sending them. Community bands were joined. Groceries were shopped. Alarm clocks were grudgingly obeyed. Throughout it all, we never lost our drive to release another obscure album to be absorbed unnoticed into the zeitgeist of a generation. Our generation. Your generation. That person over there's generation.
In 2023 we decided enough was enough and decided to put out Second Hand Low. In 2024, we finally succeeded in putting out Second Hand Low. And the world rejoiced! A triumphant, unnoticed zeitgeist rejoicing!
In 2023 we decided enough was enough and decided to put out Second Hand Low. In 2024, we finally succeeded in putting out Second Hand Low. And the world rejoiced! A triumphant, unnoticed zeitgeist rejoicing!