Skittish: Taste the rainbow

WHAT: Skittish

WHERE: Acadia Café, 329 Cedar Ave. S

WHEN: Oct. 9

COST: Free – Zombie Pub Crawl Show

Jeff Noller has spent the last two years building his home studio.

With a total of four years of playing together, he and band member Vonnie Kyle are in the process of releasing their third double-disk LP,  “The Perfect Shade of Green.“

The duo makes up the Minneapolis folk-rock band Skittish. As their name implies, the two are nervous and reticent, but well aware of it.

 “I’m nervous around other people,“ Noller said.  “I feel like I’m more at home with animals. Everytime you watch a nature show, they always say that animals are a little skittish. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I agree with those animals, they’ve got the right idea.’”

While their personal interactions are apprehensive, their music is anything but. Disc one of “The Perfect Shade of Green” is all soaring vocals and interweaving harmonies. Kyle and Noller’s voices mesh well over the instrumentation. Strong major key melodies in songs like  “Living Atop” and  “Singing the Obits” keep the album grounded and pleasing without being boring. It’s an entertaining indie-folk-rock romp.

Disc two is much more experimental, but wholly listenable.

 “The original plan was to just have the one, main rock album. But after a number of things it seemed necessary to release two,” Noller said.  “The first album is much more male, modern and city-centered, whereas the second is more female, folky, nature. It’s just like two different worlds I’ve lived in.”

Kyle gets a chance to really unleash her vocal talents on disc two. Her voice is a dynamic counterpoint to Noller’s nasal sound. Tracks like “Living Amongst” and “Little Things” showcase the debate between their two competing sounds. It’s infectious and it works.

Double-disc albums are a dangerous venture because of the limited return based on twice as much work, but the duo seems unfazed.

 “It’s ludicrous, a stupid thing to do, but it’s just a ‘[expletive] you’ to what’s going on these days,” Noller said.  “I just wanted to do what I wanted to do.”

 “If you cram everything on one album, it just hops from one genre to another and it seemed like a really cool idea to say that we have one album that’s rocking and this other that is experimental folk, which is kind of where our heart is,” Kyle said.

The double disc does at times start to bore. Songs like “Through the Woods” (disc one) or “Due” (disc two) lack some of the intensity of the other songs. For the most part, though, Skittish has released a double album filled with energetic and engaging songs.

For being self-taught, Noller’s production skills are excellent.

 “I would just sit in my room, reading the Internet, figuring out how to do things,” he said.

The sound quality is on par with that of any large independent label. With many additional instruments required to perform the album’s tracks, Skittish is bringing in new performers to play during live shows. The duo may eventually evolve into a full band with an eccentric live show.

Performing is a way for Skittish to shed their nervous exterior.

 “A different side comes out when we perform,” Noller said, “I just feel like a completely different person.”

That will likely become normal in time, as this album should secure them many more performances.