Salted with a little banjo, some lush acoustic guitars and Phalen's guileless vocal performance, "Until the Clouds" is a four-and-a-half-minute statement of intent.
The record's following nine tunes continue to mine the no-nonsense spirit and rock and roll music of the Midwest.
"We've spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to be a Midwestern band," says Phalen, who has organized a pair of Midwestern Folk Rock Revival shows in Milwaukee.
"With those shows, we had noticed that there were a ton of talented people from around the region making music in more or less the same genre that we were working in. I've been weary for a long time of hearing about the New York scene, or the L.A. scene or the Nashville scene, or whatever. Nobody ever talks about the Midwest scene, even though there's a bunch of incredible music here. Not even people in the Midwest seem to be paying attention.
"We want to change that. We've committed ourselves to becoming the quintessential Midwestern rock n roll band, and that's what we're trying to do -- with the music we make, the lyrics we write, the way we look and behave and carry ourselves as a group. And that's something we've been working on for a long time, even before we started work on this album."
So, says Phalen, the record's title was sort of a gimme.
"I see the title ‘Middle West' and this collection of songs as an homage to our homeland here. We're really proud of being from the Midwest and as we continue to spread our music to more and more people we want them to know us as a Midwestern band. And we want to bring our other friends who are making great Midwestern music with us too. In a way, I kind of look at Middle West as our manifesto. This is who we are, this is where we're from, and this is what we sound like ... it all revolves around one central theme: we represent the Midwest.
"As I was writing a few of the songs that ended up on the album I noticed that my affinity for the Midwest and the people and places I grew up with here were showing up in the lyrics. So, I took that as a sign and collected the songs that seemed to fit that mold the best and put them together on the record."
The result, says Phalen, is a mix of material that is new and a bit older. While ("Clown Parade" and "I Don't Know Why" are of recent vintage, others like "Until the Clouds", "Like Rain", "Illinois Line" and "Neptune Child" have been part of the group's repertoire for a while now.
"A couple of these songs date back to when I was in college in 2000 and 2001," says Phalen. "Some I was still finishing while we were in the studio. I've just been waiting for the right moment to put them all together in the right place!"
Phalen was also careful not to neglect the packaging. and the "Middle West" digipak sleeve - with photos shot out in the autumn countryside just before the colors really exploded -- perfectly describes and represents the corn-fed music on the inside.
"I don't think we could have imagined a better complement to the music," says Phalen of the sleeve designed and photographed by Bobby Gorman.
"Rural scenes with trains running across the horizon; the sun tucked behind the clouds as it hangs over acres of farmland and lakes; country vistas ... these are all images that appear in my lyrics."
And Phalen and his Stereo Addicts - which includes Decibully drummer Aaron Vold, bassist Joe Ledger, former Decibullian Doc Holliday on banjo and mandolin and Andy Gulotta, a founding member of Freshwater Collins - plan to take "Middle West" on the road, at least in its "homeland."
"We've been fortunate to meet some great musicians and people from around the Midwest and we're hoping to play a bunch of shows around the region," says Phalen.
"After all, this album is about the Midwest, and we've kind of committed ourselves to being the ‘spokespersons' for Midwestern rock ‘n' roll so we want to really make a name here in the homeland. We're hoping that ‘Middle West' will open some doors for us on the national scene."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
