REVIEW: Shadow Shadow Shade - Shadow Shadow Shade

Shadow Shadow Shade- Shadow Shadow Shade 
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There are times in music when a band gets really excited about all the instruments they can collectively play and try to throw them all into some giant cloud of pulsating noise. There are other times (arguably less, the releases are just more notable) when bands seem to holster their musicianship and compose some big orchestral pieces and manage to work in their skills in all the right places.

It helps having seven capable members giving their whole musicality to the album.

LA's Shadow Shadow Shade display a stunning array of talents on their debut and self-titled LP. These flowering and building rock tunes (big and anthemic like "Say Yes" or subdued and alluring like "Amputee") are the result of a massive meeting of the minds. There are complicated vocal harmonies built into already sprawling and impressive instrumentation (see "Did Not the Lights Go Out for You"). There are notable thematic changes within each song, each with an attention to dynamics that always keeps the ear engaged.

Read the rest of the review and sample four great tracks below.

There's absolutely no doubting that the members of Shadow Shadow Shade have myriad influences. The music smacks of all sorts of genres: "Say Yes" and "Your Perfect Wilderness" are like poppier versions of ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead tunes, with multiple vocal harmonies gaining power with driving drums and an epic sense of direction. "Suffocate Us" has an intro that harkens back to Bloc Party's Silent Alarm days and the angry yet tuneful growls of "Amputee"should at the very least remind Isaac Brock of some earlier and more raw days in Modest Mouse's history.

At the same time that all these different genres are meeting in the middle of Shadow Shadow Shade's sound, I've come away from a good half-dozen spins of the record thinking that they've managed to find a surprising degree of coherence (while beautiful, "Amputee" is perhaps the only track that really takes on a different idea altogether, but it comes back to a familiar tone). For a debut record, this is a great way to start. The band seems only to be stretching its wings. It's encouraging to see an act like this sprawl out across different musical planes, knowing full well their potential to embrace any direction of their choosing and make more music with a greater focus and perhaps achieve an even more impressive level of music.

Shadow Shadow Shade's Official Website
Shadow Shadow Shade on MySpace

Free download of "Say Yes":

A special thanks to Sam Johnson of SSS for getting back in touch with us -and then putting up with my untimeliness in posting this review.