Murder Shoes « The RingMaster Review

Photo Joshua Syx

After three increasingly impressive and enthralling EPs, it is fair to say that the debut album from US rock/pop band Murder Shoes has been a highly anticipated proposition, and equally honest to say that now here, Daydreaming more than lives up to hopes and the potential fuelling previous encounters from the Minneapolis quintet. Once more, the band weaves tantalising songs from strands of indie, surf, and dark pop rock, evolving from them perpetually mesmeric and at times sinisterly ethereal yet tenaciously mischievous proposals. The result is an album based on sonic flirtation and rich imagination which lights ears and appetite with a sublime hand of adventure.

From the first meeting of guitarists Derek Van Gieson and Chris White, the seeds of Murder Shoes have quickly and potently blossomed into a creatively stirring proposition. Writing a thick body of songs together bred on and blending a broad array of inspirations, flavours, and styles, the pair recruited vocalist/keyboardist Tess Weinberg to their emerging project before completing its line-up with drummer Elliot Manthey and bassist Tim Heinlein. Within a year first EP Cash On Fire was unveiled, December 2014 its release with a self-titled successor arriving the May of 2015 and the Little Lost EP two months later, all through Land Ski Records who now bring us Daydreaming.

cover_RingMaster Review Your Friend Kimmie starts the band’s new temptation off, opening on an instantly alluring bass coaxing soon embraced by surf lined caresses of guitar. The smouldering invitation is increased as the warm siren-esque harmonic tones of Weinberg gently lay upon the spreading strands of sonic enterprise and low key but pungent rhythmic bait. A sultry serenade fondling ears and imagination, the song makes a potent start for Daydreaming but is soon overshadowed by firstly the inescapable catchiness of So What May and in turn the haunting romance of Bad Reputation. The first of the pair saunters with a spicily melodic smile and infectious rhythms, its breath carrying a nineties scent which only adds to its easy pull on a keenly growing appetite for the release, whilst the second sways with a seduction of slim but quickly gripping hooks amidst a mesh of melodic tendrils cast by the guitars.

Recent single Nineteeneightyone strolls in with an energetic and creative virulence next, beats and vocals colluding to enslave ears as sonic endeavour paints the song’s canvas with evocative and fiery imagination. Both Van Gieson and White craft a fascinating picture with their invention, holding their tempting own against the ever beguiling delivery of Weinberg. Equally though, as shown further by Secrets, Heinlein and Manthey conjure an enticement of rhythms and darker shadows which simply and skilfully accentuates the melodic humidity and elegance around them. In Secrets the pair court the flames of warmth lining the surf fuzziness with a darkly provocative prowl, offering a jazzy contrast to the more fiery aspects shimmering boldly around them.

New single Girls Named Benji marks another step up in temptation and excitement within Daydreaming, its Throwing Muses meets The Only Ones like canter, an epidemic of inciting rhythms and sonic drama around a just as keenly delivered and tenacious vocal prowess and attitude. The track is as compelling as it comes and swiftly matched by the outstanding Little Lost. Once again instantly the rhythm section captivates and enslaves, and once more the guitars create a sonic and slightly scuzzy tapestry of rich enticement to seduce the firmer enticement. There is a feel of Belly and Breeders to the song but, as expected, it is twisted and woven into the rousing and here raucous ingenuity of Murder Shoes to addictive effect.

The surf fuelled beauty of Reefer And Pizza seduces ears next; it’s romancing sway like the sun on a lively sea but with a volatility that will have its thrilling say. Another major pinnacle that provokes a hint of Martha and the Muffins in thoughts, it makes ways for the album’s title track, a crystalline kiss of light with rolling beats and fields of sonic and melodic sultriness. Again there is that steely and dramatic underbelly at play, seeping along and into the textures of the song bringing a subdued and thrilling theatre of darkness with underlying intimidation.

Can You Sea Me brings its masterful stickiness of evocative enterprise and melodic intoxication next, the song maybe eclipsed by those just before but smothering the listener in celestial and earthy contrast for great pleasure before How Does It Feel closes the album with a similar weave within its own engrossing character of sound and imagination. It is a refreshing end to another excellent and thrilling offering from Murder Shoes. The album continues where the previous EPs left off but also shares new depth in sound and exploration along the way. Daydreaming is like a musical lover you will only lay back and think about for ages after tasting its creative kiss, that a success in anyone’s book.

Daydreaming is released November 6^th via Land Ski Records and @ https://murdershoes.bandcamp.com/album/daydreaming

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Murder-Shoes/331873790352913 https://twitter.com/murdershoesband http://www.murdershoesband.com/

Pete RingMaster 06/11/2015

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Murder Shoes_Credit Photo to Aaron Fenster_01

Photo -Aaron Fenster

A slice of dark seduction always goes down a treat especially when brought with an imaginative smile and psyche haunting radiance. A healthy dose of rhythmic drama and melodic revelry similarly has ears and imagination more often than not seriously enthused within that kind of sultry landscape. It is a delicious mix which leaves us generally hosting a keen appreciation for its source, and in the shape of the self-titled EP from US band Murder Shoes, an especially lustful one. The five track encounter from the Minneapolis quintet is an intoxicating temptation of surf, alternative, and indie rock ‘n’ roll, a sound basking in the smouldering essences of each whilst creating its own individual inescapable seducing.

The seeds of Murder Shoes begin with the meeting of guitarists Chris White and Derek Van Gieson, seemingly at a bar where one worked and the other frequented. Conversations about music led to the pair uniting as songwriters, with a torrent of songs emerging from their complimenting ideations. A new potent factor emerged when vocalist/keyboardist Tess Weinberg was brought into the mix, followed by another spark of dynamics when drummer Elliot Manthey and bassist Tim Heinlein completed the line-up. With everything in place Murder Shoes stepped into the light and released the low key three-track Cash On Fire EP last December. It was just an appetiser for major things, a more than decent toe tester in creative waters, but in hindsight now blown totally aside by the might of the band’s new offering on Land Ski Records.

cover Derek Van Gieson

The adventure begins with Charlotte Manning and an opening temptation of sultrily toned guitar strokes aligned to smaller nibbles of their strings on ears. Van Gieson and White swiftly grip the imagination before the siren-esque lure of Weinberg begins her vocal caresses to intensify its involvement. It is a magnetic entrance but soon finding new levels of persuasion with the darker spicing brought by the throaty bass and more fiery hues to the guitar enterprise. A surf rock seducing by this time is just as fruitfully lighting body and thoughts, it all driven by the respectful and increasingly anthemic endeavour of Manthey. Like that packet of your favourite candy where good intentions in having just one becomes two, then another and subsequently the whole thing, such is the power of the song, every minute left alone listen, leaving an insatiable want for more.

And so it is with the following Maybe You Can, and the whole EP to admit the truth. It is another song rampantly persuasive and in control of the senses from its first singular guitar baiting of ears. That lone lure is soon bulging with a feisty march of beats and wrapped in fresh swarthy kisses of guitar as Weinberg produces more of her warm vocal enticing. There is a feel of The Capsules to the melodic and smouldering aspects of Murder Shoes songs whilst the unpredictable twists and invention within the encounter is like a blend of Chick Quest and Two Wounded Birds. The track continues to masterfully impose and enthral before making way for the fiery Under the Sea. You can almost feel the hot tingle of sand between toes as the surf pop persuasion dances with ears and emotions. Its sixties breath adds to the compelling character and sound of the song whilst mini crescendos even in their brief moments just breed a catchy drama to the glorious pop flirtation.

The following Sea a Little Louder brings another embrace of mellower energy but again without losing any of the gripping invention and melodic poetry of its predecessors. It is too bubbly to be classed as a piece of balladry but similarly with its alluring restraint far from being an incitement of intensive activity, a mesmeric croon the apt description for the song’s atmospheric and creative hug. It is easy to drift away with the breezy temptation, even its muscular rhythm saunter and the little bursts of climatic endeavour only empowering its immersive qualities.

Final track In Your Bed Or On a Train has limbs back in a frenzy and emotions fired up with its fusion of old school rock ‘n’ roll, sweltering surf ambience, and indie rock unpredictability. Think a modern day Wanda Jackson fronting a Morningwood type proposition and you sense why the EP’s closing offering is so irresistible. Rolling beats from Manthey again provide the resourceful and unrelenting wave of rhythmic enslavement which cores most songs whilst guitars and bass spin sticky darkly hued webs of adventure. Shrouded in the almost celestial tones of Weinberg, it is an exhilarating proposition, as the whole EP, and if the flavours we most mentioned, surf, indie etc. bring a lick of the lips, you are looking at potentially your favourite release of the year.

The Murder Shoes EP is available now digitally and on CD via Land Ski Records @ http://murdershoes.bandcamp.com/

http://www.murdershoesband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Murder-Shoes/331873790352913

RingMaster 05/05/2015

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