Shoestrings

Michigan duo Shoestrings started out in the mid-'90s as the twee-leaning indie pop project of high school friends Mario Suau and Rose Uytuico. The band was most active in the late '90s, drawing from the same well as sensitive Sarah Records acts and releasing a single LP before shifting gears and working on different projects. Suau and Uytuico remained friends and collaborators over the years, but brought their focus back to writing new Shoestrings songs in the mid-2010s, and finalized a new album, Expectations, in 2021, more than 20 years after their debut was released. The members of Shoestrings got together in Detroit suburb Sterling Heights, and first made music together in high school in the early '90s as part of a friend's dour and goth-tinged project. More excited about indie pop and the wistful sounds of Prefab Sprout, Suau and Uytuico splintered off from their friend's band to form Shoestrings. They set up a bedroom recording studio and honed their production skills working on songs that blended elements of twee and sophisti-pop, but also included electronic and programmed elements. A two-song 7" on Sunday Records would be Shoestrings' first release, and throughout the decade, they contributed tracks to multiple compilations, eventually issuing their debut full-length Wishing on Planes in 1997. Their focus shifted to production as the 2000s dawned, and Shoestrings was shelved for a time in favor of new project Invisible Twin, a somewhat more electronic side of the duo's sound that often manifested as remixes for other artists. Still close friends in 2015, Suau and Uytuico once again began working on Shoestrings material, and in September 2021 they shared the first single from their new album Expectations, their first record in 24 years. Expectations was released on Shelflife in November of that year.
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