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Shy Child Release Liquid Love
It is a rare instance indeed that one would assign an album a particular gender, but it is something which Shy Child themselves have done for their new album “Liquid Love”, out in March.
Whereas their breakthrough album “Noise Won’t Stop” was a macho, swaggering, ripsnorting beast of a record, packed to the rafters with tunes so boisterous and energetic they were practically leaping from the speakers, on this album, the Brooklyn duo of Pete Cafarella and Nate Smith have slowed things right down, insisting that it is a “female” album. The result is a record that, while as addictive as ever, also feels more beautiful, spacious and relaxed; the aggressiveness replaced by a warmth and friendliness, the hyperactive tunes replaced by an easygoing groove that courses through the tracks, illuminating them from within.
From start to finish, this is twinkling, elegant electronic pop of the highest order, with some naughty winks to the past while simultaneously aiming determinedly for the future. So the title track boldly reappropriates the central riff from Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” as the starting point for a shimmering pop odyssey, while instant classics like “The Beatles” and “Depth of Feel” genetically splice the vintage, feel-good vibes of Hall and Oates with some serious cosmic disco shapes, and the seven-minute opus “Criss Cross” ebbs and flows on waves of mellifluous synths and Cafarella’s east coast croon.
All of which is not to say that Shy Child have lost their bite; for the songs on here are as vital and infectious as ever. It’s just that it also feels a lot more considered, mysterious, sensual, complex and resonant than they ever have done in the past, which, all things considered, maybe isn’t too much of a surprise. It is, after all, their “female” record…
Catch them Live:
27-Feb-10 Liverpool, Kazimier,
28-Feb-10 Bristol, Thekla
1-Mar-10 London, ICA,
2-Mar-10 Glasgow, ABC 2
3-Mar-10 Leeds, A Nation of Shopkeepers,
5-Mar-10 Birmingham, Academy 3
6-Mar-10 Manchester, Roadhouse