Quarterlifeparty

I recently found out about Austin, Texas band She, sir and their upcoming EP Who Can’t Say Yes. What I found was a great first effort. My friend Brent offered to write the review…so without further ado:

She, Sir may have just made the follow-up to My Bloody Valentine’s
Loveless that never happened. Whereas Smahing Pumpkins took
Shoegazer and meshed it with a grunge-glam sound, “She, sir” sticks to
the genres more traditional roots using heavily layered guitars and
drowned-out vocals to produce that dream-pop sound.

In brief, The “shoegazer” genre was brought to light in 1985
on the album psychoCandy by the Jesus & Mary Chain and was
popularized with Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. Characterized by
droning and heavily layered guitar riffs that make up a “wall of
sound”, reverberating vocals, and an overall sound that is quiet and
loud at the same time. More recently the Shoegazer sound has popped
up in bands such as Serena-Maneesh (who were put in the Best New Music
category on Pitchfork Media this year), a lesser known band Film School
who use elements of the shoegazer wall of sound in their choruses to
compliment their more quiet melodic verses, and the influence it has
had on The Secret Machines is apparent.

She, Sir is a welcome addition to this genre with their debut
EP Who Can’t Say Yes. The band consists of two academically trained
composers, and it shows. The album at first comes across as the
follow-up to My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, but with more listens you
can hear the intricacies to which these two songwriters experiment with
the shoegazer genre. Compared to Loveless, the guitars are a little
edgier, the vocals in a lower pitch and the drums have a harder kick.
Who Can’t Say Yes is an album that sticks to the genre’s specific
sound although it doesn’t come across as derivative nor pretentious. It
is a wash of passionate experimentation and a dedication to making
every sound blend in. In true shoegazer fashion, the vocals are just
another instrument adding to the quiet, elegant, chaos.

Except for “Lieutenant” and “The Clandestine”, which
immediately dive into the muddy water, the songs on Who Can’t Say Yes,
begin with spare instrumentalism before subtly crescendoing into
layered guitars and cymbal crashes. The album holds up over multiple
listens as different aspects of the band’s music come through. One
critique of the album is maybe the songs are too short, however, when
the album is listened to as a whole, each song meshing into another,
this is not apparent. It will be interesting to see where She, Sir take
their experimentation, hopefully into brand new territory that draws a
fine line between being unlistenable and beautiful. The lush texture on
Who Can’t Say Yes will hypnotize you. I would like to thank She, sir
for making my sunset city walk home into a dizzying orchestrated dance
of people passing by.

She, sir – It’s My Way of Staying Connected (MP3)

Pre-Order the EP.
She, sir on Myspace.

*BUMP*

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