Student band Tall Travis & the Beanie Babies released singles “Raw Milk is Medicine” and “Rotoscope Me” April 14 on Youtube and Soundcloud. 

Both singles immerse the listener within a cacophony of folk instrumentation and engaging lyrics, but rely too much on the common tropes of indie folk music in the process.

“Raw Milk is Medicine,” written and sung by second year Phineas Potter, describes the average plight of the college student and the struggles of dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder. 

The lyrics paint each day as a fight to focus and chug along to the next class, while struggling to remain in control of your body and mind. The ear catching hook emphasizes this point as it repeats throughout the song, “the evening casts a long shadow.” 

This thought of each day being defined by a shadow of desperation echoes in the listener’s mind with its catchy chorus and building fiddle. 

Speaking of instrumentation, the song’s intro and outro sound like a jubilant festival of different folk instruments with overlapping guitars, ukulele, fiddle, and banjo. The fiddle and guitar solos that take place after each hook are just as engaging and are beautifully executed. 

Although the band’s instrumentation is effective and well composed, their sound ends up being too familiar. It is reminiscent of other indie folk bands like Andrew Jackson Jihad and Neutral Milk Hotel, but ultimately lacking in definitive personality.  

Even if the instrumentation is reminiscent of other bands, it is still just as fun and relatable as its contemporaries. 

The second single “Rotoscope Me,” written and sung by second year Pax Logiodice,  is just as instrumentally and lyrically poignant as the first track,  if not more so. The song begins with a captivating hook which is well-written and fantastical yet straight-forward.

The main theme of the song is all about creating an emotional image of someone deeply intimate. As the song would state, “your closest companion.” The instrumentation reflects the emotional weight of the lyrics with it’s somber violins and moody piano.

Rotoscoping is when animators trace over an original film and the song’s imagery of rotoscoping someone feels incredibly visceral. It’s not just capturing someone through film, but it’s capturing their emotions through animation.

The main theme of the song is all about creating an emotional image of someone deeply intimate, as the song would state “your closest companion.” The instrumentation reflects the emotional weight of the lyrics with it’s somber violins and moody piano.

The guitar and piano solos that conclude the song are just as impactful as the lyrics and give off a  sense of suspense; like there is an image forming  in front of us and  we don’t quite know what it is. 

However, the song ends up falling into the same pitfalls as “Raw Milk is Medicine,” the performance lacks any unique qualities that go beyond the status quo of indie folk music. Each song also follows a similar formula of two verses, then a hook and repeat with the occasional solo. 

It would be really interesting to see the band experiment with different song structures and sounds that separate the band from their influences. Even with that said, “Raw Milk is Medicine” and “Rotoscope Me” are well executed and lyrically compelling tracks that any fan of indie folk music will enjoy.