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Sally Shapiro

Working under the name Sally Shapiro, the duo of Sally Shapiro and Johan Agebjörn combine her delicate vocals with his production skills to replicate of the sound of 1980s Italo disco, then add the melancholic yet hopeful sentimentality associated with twee pop. Their debut single from 2006, "I'll Be by Your Side," became something of an overnight sensation and set out the parameters of their sound. They rarely deviated from that template over the course of their career, though 2013's Somewhere Else dipped a toe into the neon noir Drive aesthetic. This connection was solidified when the duo collaborated with Johnny Jewel on 2022's Sad Cities, which was issued on Italians Do It Better. The pair first met in 2001 working in an office together, but it wasn't until Christmas 2004 that Agebjörn, a lifelong Italo disco lover, noticed Shapiro's voice while they were singing carols at his piano. He told her she would make an excellent Italo-style singer, and as luck would have it she turned out to be a fan of the genre as well. Shapiro agreed to record vocals for a tune Agebjörn had penned in the style of Valerie Dore and Katy Gray (similarly pseudonymous singers backed by obscured writing/production teams), although when they finally got around to it in early 2006, she was so shy that Agebjörn had to leave the room while she sang her part. The resulting track, "I'll Be by Your Side," was almost instantaneously hailed as a modern classic on online disco forums; it was given a vinyl release on the Austrian label Diskokaine that July and was soon championed in such outlets as Pitchfork, Vice, and The Village Voice. The album Disco Romance followed on Diskokaine in December, containing that song and five more Shapiro/Agebjörn collaborations (one of them, the single "Anorak Christmas," was a cover of the Swedish indie pop one-man band Nixon), two remixes, and an ambient Agebjörn instrumental. In October 2007, Canadian-based indie Paper Bag Records released Disco Romance in North America with a revised track listing including three new songs (two by Nixon's Roger Gunnarsson; one of them penned specifically for Shapiro) and the extended version of "I'll Be by Your Side." Shapiro's much-discussed shyness (she refused to record vocals while anyone was in the room) precluded her from music videos or making live appearances to promote the album, although she has given numerous interviews. The duo still managed to stay in the minds of critics and fans, however, by releasing two albums of remixes, Remix Romance, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 -- which included contributions from artists like Dntel, Holy Fuck, the Juan Maclean, Junior Boys, and the Russian Futurists -- in April and June of 2008, respectively. The duo followed their first album with another in a similar format, 2009's My Guilty Pleasure, before taking a break to work on other projects. Shapiro added guest vocals to a song ("Don't Be Afraid") on Anoraak's 2010 album Wherever the Sun Sets, while Agebjörn released the excellent Casablanca Nights album in 2011, with many tracks featuring vocals by Shapiro. The duo reconvened in 2011 to record a new album and the result was 2013's Somewhere Else. The album featured the return of Gunnarsson and collaborations with Le Prix and Electric Youth, as well as an alternate version of "Don't Be Afraid." A remix album titled Elsewhere (featuring the Field, Nite Jewel, Young Galaxy, and others) was also issued. In 2014, they collaborated with French synthwave producer Tommy '86 for a single titled "Why Did I Say Goodbye." The duo only worked sporadically in the following years, realizing that their musical interests were heading down divergent paths -- Agebjörn was more into ambient electronic music, while Shapiro was interested in non-electronic pop. After releasing one last single in May of 2016 -- "If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind," which was backed by an acoustic cover of David Guetta's "Dangerous" -- they split up. Their separation didn't last long, however, and they began working secretly on new music. When they resurfaced in mid-2021 with the release of "Fade Away" the duo had teamed with the Italians Do It Better crew; not only did the label issue the song but Johnny Jewel took part in the recording and helped Agebjörn with the mixing. The song -- and subsequent singles "Forget About You" and "Christmas Escape" -- followed the icy disco pop template of the duo's previous work, as did their cover of Madonna's "Holiday," which appeared on an Italians Do It Better-released tribute album. The fourth Sally Shapiro album, Sad Cities, was issued in early 2022 and along with the heavy involvement of Jewel, it featured appearances by Electric Youth, Tommy '86, and Highway Superstar. Along with the tried and true Italo disco sound of their past, the pair added some bouncy hip-house, neon noir ballads, and soft rock smoothness to the mix.
© K. Ross Hoffman & Tim Sendra /TiVo
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