Whenever I receive a “welcome to the neighborhood” package from
\na newer label, I always open it with some trepidation. I can’t help
\nit – I listened to so much “must-have-been-taped-in-the-bathroom”
\ncrap when I was in college radio that I usually call in the Pierce
\nMemorial Archives Bomb Squad (“I can’t believe we’re not getting
\npaid for this”) to open the envelope.<\/p>\n
This time around, the first disc I grabbed was the second
\nfull-length release by Shallow,
\nHigh Flyin’ Kid Stuff<\/i>. How can you not like an album with a
\nsong named “Missile Command”? (Though, as a devotee of the MAME
\nemulator, I must point out the video game in the artwork is
\nactually “Defender.” True die-hard gamers will know about MAME –
\ncheck it out while it’s still legal.)<\/p>\n
Mix the sonic energy of the Cocteau Twins with Sonic Youth and
\nadd a singer who is a cross between Juliana Hatfield and Harriet
\nWheeler of The Sundays, and you have Shallow. This album is almost
\nimmediately endearing, and is one you’ll find you can’t take off
\nthe CD player.<\/p>\n
The husband\/wife team of bassist Jason Shields and
\nguitarist\/flutist\/vocalist Julie Shields is the backbone of this
\ngroup, with Ryan Newton providing “guitar sounds.” (Live drums are
\nprovided by three different individuals.) With the first notes of
\n“Missile Command,” Julie Shields immediately identifies this as a
\nsonic journey worth taking. The layering of guitars and guitar
\n“sounds” along with the trap work of Stephen Kretsinger (who
\nprovides drums on all but two tracks), and you’ll find yourself
\nreaching for the earphones to truly take this journey in. The band
\nknows when it’s time to get gentle and when to knock the listener
\non his\/her\/its ass – something you don’t often find in a band so
\nyoung.<\/p>\n
If the album were all songs related to video games – as the
\nfollowing track “Light Saber And The Video Game God” hints at –
\nwe’d be looking at an alternative Buckner & Garcia (remember
\nthose<\/i> losers, kids?). Fortunately, they quickly branch out
\ninto a different direction. “You Give Me Butterflies” is a song
\nabout intense love – and, apparently, the loss of that feeling of
\nexcitement. Julie Shields emotes this song well, bringing you on
\nthe emotional rollercoaster without making it too much like a
\nclassic tragedy.<\/p>\n
The highlight of this album is the song I thought would have
\nbeen its downfall – “Studio 54 (It must be nice).” A bit of
\nbackground: I still believe to this day that disco sucks, and it’s
\nalive and well and living under the assumed name (something I can
\nrelate to very well, having originally written under one) of
\ntechno, house, rave… what are they calling it this week? Instead
\nof weakly resorting to this form of music (as they slyly hint at in
\nthe opening bars), Shallow quickly takes it to a whole new level.
\nJulie Shields shines on this track, and is easily my favorite on
\nthe album.<\/p>\n
\nHigh Flyin’ Kid Stuff<\/i> is filled with these moments – whether
\nit’s the stark arrangements of “Birthday” to the instrumental
\nwonders of “Wash, Dry, Fold” (where the use of the flute adds to
\nthe power of the song) to the slow build on “Slowdrone,” Shallow
\nmanage to keep things sounding fresh throughout the album.<\/p>\n
The only real weakness I can see is the multi-tracking of vocal
\nparts. Sure, it’s very pretty at times, and is an intregal part of
\nShallow’s sound. However, I question how difficult this would be to
\npull off in concert. (I missed my opportunity to find out a few
\nweeks ago when the band was in Chicago – sometimes it’s a curse
\nplaying Mr. Mom.)<\/p>\n
The sound begins to get a little tiresome near the end –
\nespecially on the feedback-driven “King Of The Wide Eyed Girls,”
\nwhich stretches a little long at six minutes. Still, this is a
\nsmall flaw on a great album.<\/p>\n
As I’ve noted in many other reviews, the biggest challenge
\nShallow will face is gaining people’s attention. A small,
\nindependent label is just the atmosphere a band like this needs to
\nbuild up a fan base, but they face an uphill climb against some of
\nthe watered-down shit the majors release in the name of pop. (This
\nis coming from the mouth of someone desparately trying to get those
\nsame labels to notice this site.) Three words: it’s not fair – to
\nthe band, that is.<\/p>\n
\nHigh Flyin’ Kid Stuff<\/i> is an album that deserves to be given
\na fair shake in the competitive world of alternative music – and if
\nthese musicians continue to put out high-quality work like this, I
\nthink they’ll get their chance real soon. This one is definitely a
\npleasant surprise, and is a candidate for my “Top Ten” list of
\n1997.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5803],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35698","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-shallow","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35698"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35698"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}