Picture That’s first video starts out with a shaky, dimly-lit shot of the Lemp Brewery. As it progresses, we pass through a plethora of attractions, mostly at twilight: Tower Grove Park and its red and white Turkish Pavilion, the Record Exchange, Ted Drewes, the Botanical Garden, and streets lined with brick houses. Only occasionally do we actually see anyone: two people playing guitar on the Roman Pavilion, three people distantly flying a kite in Forest Park. It feels like a home movie, but it captures St. Louis’ faded majesty and hidden treasures in a way that only a native could. That it’s accompanying a song called “Magnolia,” with a chorus that goes “Remember…,” only makes it more wistful.
“I took a trip back to St. Louis specifically to make that video with my roommate Keegan,” says Allison Durham, who plays in Picture That with her twin sister, Shawn. “It was his first time in St. Louis, so it was so fun. In my head, it was going to be a collage of all these beautiful scenes that I think of when I think of St. Louis. And I got to show him around for the first time. One of my favorite things to do is show people around town.”
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“Magnolia” is one of six songs on Picture That’s debut record, Strum. Recorded at various points between 2021 and 2023, the 12-inch EP came out late in 2024 on the local Inscrutable Records label. It’s gotten great reviews from here to Scotland for its minimal yet wide-screened sound. Each song has its own distinct mood, from the shoegaze-y “Try” to the quiet, bass-driven “Time Away.” Fans of early K Records and St. Louis’ more challenging pop sounds (Soup Activists, Jane Wave, Glow in The Dark Flowers) will find much to appreciate.
Strum is a culmination of sorts for the 28-year-old siblings. They grew up in Brentwood with their parents and two older sisters. It wasn’t a musical family, exactly, but their father played guitar in garage bands in the 1960s. They caught the music bug in 2008 after one of their older sisters came home from school with what Shawn called “the gift of college radio.” This led to frantic YouTube searching and, eventually, surreptitious car trips into town to see shows. On a trip to Washington, D.C., before their senior year of high school, they saw Priests play in a church basement—an experience that so galvanized them that they vowed to do something similar back in St. Louis.
It was in 2014, at a show at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, where they met guitarist Nick G. The three of them formed Posture. “We’d been trying to jam with our classmates in Brentwood, but it just wasn’t working out,” Allison says. “So when we finally met someone like Nick, it felt like we’d finally found our people. Like, he was into Fugazi, too.” They made a six-song demo tape, played a few shows, and continued the band during school breaks and summer vacations. Posture disbanded after releasing a 7-inch single, but they all remain friends and occasionally play on each other’s projects.
While in college in Baltimore, Shawn played drums with a young Lindsey Jordan in the first iteration of Snail Mail. In Philadelphia, Allison had a radio show on WKDU, Dial Error, before taking a job in community radio after graduation. But the two didn’t collaborate any further until 2020, when both were independently writing songs.
“I’m not sure of the timeline, but Shawn had been learning guitar, and I had been taking a songwriting course through School of Song,” Allison says. “It helped me commit to ideas. The class was not necessarily how to write a song, but more tips and games you could play to generate song and lyric ideas and create imagery. Shawn was really the one who really nudged us into the studio.”
“The EP is mostly songs that we wrote separately, but we added our own flair and embellishments to each other’s songs in the studio,” Shawn adds. “The only song we really wrote together was ‘Infinity,’ which was basically a jam that we had extra time to do. I would love to do a record where we actually, truly collaborate on songs.”
An upcoming show at CBGB (3163 S. Grand) on February 24 will be their first as Picture That, as well as their first chance in a couple of years to revisit the Strum songs. The bill will not only feature Dubb Nubb, another set of twins, but also Nothing Party, whose Kelly Nothing is herself one of a set of twins.
For now, plans are hazy for Picture That beyond this show. Allison remains in Philadelphia, where she plays in Mesh. Shawn is currently in Los Angeles, where she has been involved in numerous projects. However, if the past is any indication, St. Louis will remain a big part of their lives and their music.
“I don’t think there’s anything to lose from getting out,” Shawn muses. “If you feel compelled back, beautiful. But on the whole, most people I know, even if they’ve left St. Louis, they have a serious sweet spot for it, because it’s got crazy character and crazy charm.”
