Songs don’t come out from nowhere, do they? I had a crush for this new album for Shannon and the Clams as soon I pressed play on a listening point column at Rough Trade East Shop. It took me instantly to another time and another world, to a kitchen with a rounded corners SMAG fridge where a woman was ironing summer dresses singing about her lost love. Vanilla ice creams sadness, a drive-in popcorn night with your best friend from high school, a silent hug to stop the nostalgic tears dropping by while the famous couple kiss on the big screen. This is so honest, and simply sweet, so straight-forward and accepting of what human feelings are, and so trusting into the power of music and words to release emotions and cradle a broken heart. It would be a perfect soundtrack for a re-make of “Grease” movie, coming out from a juke box in a bar where boys are dressed with black-leather jackets and the girls wear red dresses with white dots. Or it can be the band playing on the small stage (The Rubettes! Maybe The Chocolate Watch Band?), while a blonde girl with a ponytail dance cheek to cheek with the love of her life, or of her teenage years at least. But it could also be Julee Cruise, whispering about the inexplicable fate of love in a Lynch movie while two red robins fly by the window. Sometimes The Clams get the blues, there are so many blues hanging around in this album, but you know about the blues, right? They push you to sing them, to share them, it’s the beauty inside melancholy, a solitary heart drawn with your finger into the sand at sunset. Do you remember Janis Joplin’s smile? She was so lost into her blues but her smile still pictured the open heart of a child. And the punkish bits here! Shannon screams “move along”, and it’s “I love rock’n’roll”, without any doubts that it will last forever!
This is Oakland’s based Shannon and the Clams fourth album, it was recorded at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco and produced by Sonny Smith.
It was released in September 2015 on Hardly Art and it’s a wonderful album to fall in love with. Just press play now!
PS – You can also listen to the full album here.
Ask The Sky 