genres: indie + jazz pop
Stephen Day’s “It’s Been a Year” has been one of my favorite original Christmas songs for several years. Until a week ago, I hadn’t bothered to check out anything else from him. In the course of updating my Christmas playlist, I figured I’d see if he had any more seasonal songs I might want to add. He didn’t but I figured while I was on the Spotify page, I’d give his new album a spin. Boy am I glad that I did. As you can probably gather from what I typically review, I’m not super into pop. I don’t hate the genre, it just takes something really special to capture my attention in such a saturated market. This is just such an album. It’s nothing terribly fancy or revolutionary, but it’s an easy listening album with excellent songwriting, loads of variety, and quite a bit of hidden depth.
Most of The Shapes I’m In maintains a midtempo modern pop sound, flirting with some jazz, soul, and electronic ideas but never fully committing to any of them. Highlights include “If Standing Was Flying”, recalling the playful wistfulness of early Twenty One Pilots (with similar focus on drums and keyboards), “Ride”, an electronic pseudo hip-hop track tinged with horns (almost sounding like a much less bombastic version of a My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy b-side), and the mostly acoustic anthem “Nothing’s Wrong With Me”. While the majority of the tracks trade in fairly vague – if poetic – lyrics, there’s a few surprisingly complex tracks. The bluesy “Holy Ground” and its interrogation of Christian nationalism certainly takes first prize in that category, but even the tracks focused on love or hope for the future have a certain maturity that’s frequently lacking. All in all, this is a wonderfully enjoyable that’s simultaneously adventurous and comfortable, wholesome yet challenging. No matter your taste in music, I’d strongly recommend giving at least a few of the tracks a spin.
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