Shores - To Volstead

It disappoints me some that I never wrote anything about Shores and their debut album from last year Coup de Grace, as it proved to be an album that really grew on me over time. The duo (a foursome live) from Grand Rapids, Michigan play a convincing set of sparse slow moving indie-rock that would easily fall under the umbrella of “slowcore”. As it was with their first album, it’s always a bit of a head turner whenever I see that No Idea released this. Like many, I’m always assuming that what I’m going to hear from the label is within the poppy punk or post-hardcore spectrum of things. Not here though, Shores are an extremely welcome change of pace for the label and it’s good to see the them behind the band again here with their follow LP To Volstead.

I’ll be the first to admit that these guys aren’t necessarily doing anything that bands like Codeine, Low, Idaho, and so on haven’t already covered before. However, at the same time, this isn’t a type of style that people are falling over themselves to form a band to be able to play this. In fact, I imagine a number folks out there that lived through the 90’s aren’t exactly frothing at the mouth to hear this type of thing done all over again either. It’s a niche, for sure. With that said, it reassures me that the fellas that make up Shores must really really love it and probably don’t care a whole lot about any of that. I can dig that, especially as someone who also really enjoys slowcore or whatever and has damn near worn out records like The White Birch and Bedheaded. Shores are an amazing asset to those that feel the same. On To Volstead the band obviously stay the course, but has cleaned up some with a crisper/cleaner guitar sound that gives them a brighter quality than I remember on their debut. While not as much of a downer as some of the aforementioned bands in this write up, they do a fine job of walking the line of the darker more depressing themes that come with the territory and just the lazy warm sounds of winter hibernation setting in. For fans of this style of music, Shores in all likelihood won’t disappoint. I for one am certainly glad they are out there.

Shores – Hailing Distance (stream)

Currently No Idea has the LP for sale and I think the CD version is still in pre-order, for those that are looking to grab this. I certainly recommend it if you dig the track above. Enjoy!