Year Of The Spider

Shannon & the Clams

Released on 20/08/21 by Easy Eye Sound
Main artists: Shannon & the Clams
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Like the music version of a Tarantino film, Shannon and the Clams are devoted to the fine details of the past. They get the sound ('50s rock 'n' roll; '60s girl-group melodrama, Merseybeat and garage rock), the aesthetics, and the humor all right. Their look is pure camp, but the music isn't a joke. "Do I Wanna Stay" opens the Oakland band's sixth album with high drama—a slinky tango mashup of '50s grease punk and shredded Brenda Lee taffeta. It's no wonder their fans include John Waters and the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced Year of the Spider. He's a natural fit on songs like the slinky "Crawl" (which, splitting hairs, is more of a prowl) with its sizzling '70s guitar solo. The terrific title track is like a garage version of the Hollies winking at Little Shop of Horrors. It sounds like something you could do The Pony to, but it's also the sound of singer Shannon Shaw working out some shit. A few years ago she was at an epochal point, as a tragic venue fire in the band's hometown DIY community claimed three dozen lives, an intruder drove her out of her longtime home, and her father was diagnosed with cancer just as the band was getting big tour offers. An astrologer suggested Shaw confront her feelings of powerlessness by summoning the Hindu goddess Durga—a spider-like figure with eight arms which inspired the album's title. "Midnight Wine" is also extremely personal: "I was thinking of friends I've had that have died from drug addiction ... I didn't want to be too plain or on-the-nose and write about heroin or booze," bassist Cody Blanchard told Rolling Stone, "so I invented a fictional slang for a fictional drug." Shaw booms lines like "Strong and steady like the wind/ It makes you feel young again/ Drains the blood from out your bones" amidst a 13th Floor Elevators-style psych-out. "Leaves Fall Again" is like the Animals performing in an Ed Wood sci-fi flick. On that track, as well as the blue-eyes soul of "I Need You Bad," Shaw and Blanchard's harmonies are irresistible (she's compared it to a zipper coming together). There are also some wonderful surprises, like the swooning ballad "In the Hills, In the Pines" and the shimmering, hip-swiveling, falsetto-led "All Of My Cryin'"—which, of all things, suggests Shannon and the Clams could teach Tame Impala a thing or two about playing it cool. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Year Of The Spider

Shannon & the Clams

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Do I Wanna Stay