So here I am in the UK, obsessed with the idea of moving to New York, and stuck without a visa unless I become a running, funny nun, and New York keeps pounding out bands like Walking Shapes. Not only are the Brooklyn five piece really bloody good, they gig as frequently as the tube is delayed (often), with a run of 24 gigs in different NYC locations in 24 hours coming up – on April 24th no less! Stop teasing me!
New album “Taka Come On” features thirteen songs of varying styles and sounds, exploring different routes to kick off a whole chain of neural responses that end in fizzing contentedness, via undulating emotional trajectory. Fuzzed geometric guitars wend under a melodic contour of clean keys, and there are jangly pop moments in counterbalance to darker EDM sounds. Opener and latest single “Woah Tiger” sees complex twiddling keys from Jake Generalli and a spoken singing style from Nathaniel Hoto, a pick’n’mix of sonic refractions and experiments that never veers into chaos, evoking comparisons with Late of the Pier. “Winter Fell” (see the video streaming below) hints at the busy yet lonely dynamic of the city, with what sounds like morphed emergency service sirens, while “Mussolini” suggests from its delicate chords and rolling rhymes that it should be a love song – but of course things are never so straight forward. The addition of a violin via Jessie Kotansky is genius, and the instrument is given a prominent position where least expecting, adding a haunting delineation and softening the sometimes caustic blows. – Francesca Baker