Album Details

• Artist: Sholi
• Album: Sholi
• Label: Quarterstick
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: kev_stev on 2009-04-28

Media

After releasing a series of EPs and 7-inches, San Francisco’s indie trio Sholi have completed their debut full-length, a self-titled record on Quarterstick records. Utilizing shoegaze and post-rock production techniques, the band unite mellow vocals with slow, spacious arrangements—gradually increasing the tempo and altering dynamics as the music creeps towards crescendo. Despite this formulaic approach, Sholi finds ways to find their own sound while adhering to a method, dropping sneaky bass lines on the catchy, foot-tapping “Any Other God,” and slashing away at ruminative melodies with off-beat drums on “All That We Can See.”

Although volume changes and oscillating dynamics are nothing new to shoegaze-style music, Sholi thrives through their systematic approach. The blaring volume increase in the whispering “Spy In The House of Memories” succeeds in its shock value, as slashing guitars shatter the song’s initial dreamlike swoon, while the somber opening chords to “November Through June” smoothly transition into one of the album’s heavier tracks. Also, the oblique lyrics capture a feeling of wistfulness through distinct images, like on the opening track, where lead singer Payam Bavafa drawls, “underneath a willow fading / squirrels with human habits forming / every fruit you taste you bite and leave peels.” Often pensive reflections on the past, the lyricism is the perfect compliment to the music’s aural atmosphere, offering melancholic images for the listener to ponder while being enveloped by a sonic wave.

Review also avaiable here: http://prod1.cmj.com/articlesdisplay_article.php?id=117547852

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