It’s like the soft subconscious voice of a fairy tale streaming a message through your soul with a warm breath of rippling vocals and gentle rhythmic guitar. The sound of each song flows seamlessly throughout your body before settling in a place deep within your core, creating a comforting feeling similar to the sense of peace you get as you rest your head on a soft pillow after a difficult day.
Each song transcends into the next with raw indie sensibilities that take you on a journey with more bright swirling lights than a classic iTunes screen-saver. They give you the same trippy out-of-body sensation that the spinning and transforming colors give you.

A product of two University students brought together by life in the creative arts residence hall during their freshman year, Muke (pronounced “Mook”) began as a way to keep from being bored, sad and lonely during their first collegiate summer in a Eugene devoid of its usual student-filled population.
Beat boxer/guitarist Luke Kuzava, a philsophy major, and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Maddie Liebowitz, an electronic media major in the School of Journalism and Communication, recorded their first song, “Dreamsicle,” during that lonely summer as a way to pass the hours.
Kuzava created the rhythm section with his background in mixing hip-hop beats and playing acoustic guitar, while Liebowitz added her other-worldly twist to the equation with her echoing vocal style.
After much encouragement from mutual friends and other students, Liebowitz and Kuzava decided their music could be more than just a summer project.
Eventually, more instruments were added (flute, fife, melodica, tambourine and even a train whistle) and a truly unconventional sound was birthed by way of their recently released album, “Shutterspeed Lullabies.”
“We recorded the entire album in my apartment and all the instrumentals were done on the internal mic in my MacBook,” Liebowitz said. The final recordings of Liebowitz’s vocals were completed after the band earned the $130 it took to buy a professional quality microphone.
During the recording process of “Shutterspeed Lullabies,” Muke created music using as many as 20-30 tracks per song, and didn’t think they’d ever play any of their music live. This layered musical effect has been one of the hardest things to recreate in a live performance environment.
Kuzava spent the majority of last year’s winter break learning how to simultaneously play acoustic rhythm guitar and beat-box, something not many people can do.
Liebowitz has since spent her time learning how to play keyboards and multi-task on stage. Her general set-up consists of a set of keyboards with a chair or stool positioned to her right that’s topped with her flute, fife, melodica and the occasional tambourine or train whistle depending on the show. She then has easy access to each instrument and the ability to play as needed.
“I think as a stripped down show, it’s a different experience and I think we fill it out pretty well,” Liebowitz said.
Muke’s first live show was in early 2008 at Stonehenge for a group of rowdy University students. Immediately afterward they were offered two consecutive shows slated for the following two weekends.
Since then they’ve played at the Campbell Club and the Lorax multiple times, and branched out to bigger venues such as Indigo District and Luckey’s. “Over the last four months we’ve got to the point where I’m actually, genuinely happy with our live set,” Kuzava said. “At first I thought we had a really cool CD, and our live set wasn’t quite up to par.”
With such a unique sound, it’s difficult to put Muke in a perfect, square musical category. They describe their sound as “definitely indie,” but “poppy,” “weird” and “idiosyncratic,” too.
“I really like the term dream pop,” Kuzava said when asked what genre he thinks Muke falls under. “I think that evokes at least what we’re going for.” Dreamy definitely describes their charming music’s ability to take its listener away with it to a faraway land filled with Technicolor brightness, dandelions, fantastical situations and, of course, Kuzava’s friendly little “Mukes.”
For the non-musical production of “Shutterspeed Lullabies,” Liebowitz and Kuzava relied heavily on friends and the general wealth of creative resources within the University community.
Sarah Ludwig, a graphic design major and friend from the creative arts dorms, created Muke’s color-blasted cover art and brought the “Muke” character to life. Jeremy Blanchard, another friend, offered to take their surreal-looking press photos.
“Albums are so much more (than the music),” Kuzava said, “and to actually put something out you have to incorporate photography and graphic design and everything.”
Muke’s Wednesday show at Luckey’s is a culmination of their efforts and an opportunity to push their newly pressed album. Expect to hear not only songs from “Shutterspeed Lullabies,” but also new tracks such as “Barack Obama” and “The Elk Bugler.”
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