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Musicians solve `Mysteries of Life'

A band like The Mysteries of Life requires a family tree to explain its long, complex history. They represent another branch in a line of bands/musicians that traces back to the start of a band almost a decade ago called the Blake Babies at the Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts.

Consisting of Juliana Hatfield on bass, John Strohm on guitar and Freda Love, known then by her infamous full name Freda Love Boner, on drums, the Blake Babies grew up to be one of the more popular bands in the legendary Boston music scene that included the Lemonheads and Dinosaur Jr. When they broke up in the early '90s, Hatfield pursued a solo career while Strohm and Love formed the noise-pop band Antenna with fellow Indiana native Jake Smith. Years later, Strohm now fronts the band Velo-Deluxe while Hatfield remains successful at her solo career. As for Love and Smith, they married, had a baby, and eventually started The Mysteries of Life.

Along with marriage and childbirth, Love and Smith had gone back to school during a period where they had stopped playing music. Boredom soon set in. Through that boredom, Love and Smith formed The Mysteries of Life as a local side band occasionally playing shows and releasing singles. "We'd have more control that way," Smith explained. The Mysteries of Life stayed a secret until the people at RCA Records heard about those singles and signed the band to their label after hearing them. Their debut album, "Keep a Secret" was released in February.

While not a complete departure from Love and Smith's previous bands, "Keep a Secret" reflects the loose atmosphere that created it. The pretty pop melodies found in the Blake Babies are still there, but while they masked Hatfield's depressing, often disturbing lyrics, Smith's lyrics seem more laid back and less angst driven. (He actually seems happy for the most part.)

The lush, warm melodies created through the use of a cello on "Keep a Secret" replace the noisy guitar sound of Antenna. Love and Smith have a more direct approach to pop music than their former bandmates.

Smith cites early REM and the Velvet Underground as influences. They seem happy with that change in style. "We kind of lost touch with the music we were making before since we were away from it so long. It was nice to start from the ground up," Smith said.

While they've already made a video for the song "Going Through the Motions," Love and Smith aren't in a hurry to make their band known. They do plan to play some shows including the South By Southwest conference even though there are no plans for a national tour at the moment. Smith would like to do a national tour, but the problems of touring with a child may have played a factor in the decision not to rush into it.

At their recent show at the Shelter in Detroit, Love and Smith's year and a half old son was in attendance because they were late due to car trouble. "It can be hard," Smith said. "There are times when Freda and I don't sleep."

Lack of sleep may be the only thing Love and Smith are worried about. While they could be considered veteran musicians, Love and Smith never really got as big as Hatfield did when she went solo. They've quietly gone about making music they enjoy with little concern for commercial success.

"There was a change in motivation this time. We've had a certain amount of success in the past and were really lucky that way. You could say the pursuit of success kind of lost its tug. We're doing it now because it feels good. We needed to prove to ourselves that we could do it on our own terms, " Smith said.

That "doing what feels good" approach the Mysteries of Life take to music, like the band itself, is a secret worth revealing.