Shy, Low is making its voice heard once again.
Hailing from Virginia, Dylan Partridge (drums), Gregg Peterson (guitar), Drew Storcks (bass), Zak Bryant (guitar), and Kai Zamora (guitar) are renewing their partnership with Pelagic Records for the release of their new album, Purity Spiral.
Grace slowly sets the stage with a few gentle guitar notes, but you can feel the atmosphere gradually thickening, allowing the other instruments to come forward before the long-awaited heavy explosion that lets the rhythm section become intoxicating as it pounds steadily. It’s easy to let yourself be carried away by the massive waves toward The Bloat, a new track that immediately strikes as more aggressive, whether through its jerky rhythm or its unsettling harmonics, but the sound will morph into something more complex, though still just as heavy. The sonic mist doesn’t hesitate to burst into flames and transform itself to better surprise us, retaining a hint of gentleness in the background that connects it to Palmistry and its much more accessible, playful tones, yet once again, we feel that the musicians are slowly lighting the fuse. Although the groove is infectious, the band’s energy is fully felt during the distorted and majestic passages that structure the progression and carry our minds even more intensely toward the short Burning Fields, which gives us a moment’s respite before the song really begins, returning to its jerky yet very calm development. As its name suggests, The Charging, Brazen Bull immediately adopts a rawer sound, quickly engulfed by an ocean of distortion, then by the sparks of life offered by the five instruments, each weaving its own part of this landscape that is both magnificent and yet quite mysterious. They come together to create a sense of distress through violence, then lull us once more before picking up the pace again and reviving the theatrical sound one last time before letting it fade away, giving way to a sense of unease on the eponymous Purity Spiral. The guitar doesn’t take long to appear at first quite ethereal, then bringing in the rest of the rhythm section to return to the haunting, shifting tones that are the band’s signature, but I’m still a bit surprised by this keyboard interlude before the final distorted section, which, after a sudden surge, leads into Greenwood, the final track, which I could easily compare to a walk in the woods: while the opening is very calm and simple, we ultimately find ourselves confronted with the intensity of the effort represented by the distortion, before the release and the album’s conclusion.
Purity Spiral allows Shy, Low to continue building its universe through instrumental tracks that are increasingly sophisticated and intense. Each composition has its own identity, and every note can touch you in one way or another, drawing you into its shifting textures.
75/100
