April comes. Easter goes. And with it this wonderful bolt of retro-kitschadelia arrives out of the blue. At least new to me, but I haven't been paying attention. The Shacks have actually been around for a while despite their tender youth. New Yorkers, just short of or barely into their twenties but already having made a mark for themselves with their cover of Ray Davies' This Strange Effect, (written originally for Dave Berry, it's been a Song of the Day on here), which became an iPhone commercial starring Shacks vocalist Shannon Wise. They've now followed that up with debut album, Haze, and it's a sure sign that Spring is finally here.
It's an absolute pearl of a record. Not dissimilar in feel and mood to Whyte Horses second album, Empty Words, which came out last month. Or the wonderful Olden Yolk eponymous record from the month before. Like both of these, it's record collection pop music of the highest order, recalling at various points Os Mutantes, Astrud Gilberto, Sixties Girl Bands, Psychedelic and Bubblegum Pop, Soul, soft Velvet Underground, Dee Lite and De La Soul. Oh and the beach, with the sea lapping on the shore on a gorgeous, sunny day. That will give you the vaguest idea of its beauty but its best to just listen for yourself. It touches quite gorgeous heights at points.
Most of all it seems like a golden dream of sixties kitsch. One run through the record was more than enough to convince me. Thirteen tracks of crafted invention, wonderful songwriting, beautifully recorded echo-chamber gems, remarkable for ones so young. Given that the band have no small profile already it seems sure that Haze will do very well. It's a record with a hip quotient but also a realisation that Pop is sometimes the coolest place of all to be. Something of an instant classic!
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