First off: This is probably my favorite band of the past few months. Like, really really really like them. I can’t believe I didn’t listen to them sooner. It feels like I’ve been listening to them for a year, but I really didn’t listen to them until I went through the Coachella lineup to prep for the festival. And wow, I was blown away. I’m going to put myself on blast, I f—-ing love music. It is one of my greatest passions, and one thing that has always stuck around in my life. So when I find a band/artist/duo/sound that I really enjoy, I can’t get enough, and will be in love with it forever. And Keep Shelly in Athens has that.
I’m not one for genres, but I’m not as naive as I used to be about them. Descriptions of sounds and music have to take shape somehow. There’s no easy way to describe this duo, but all I can say, their sound is individualistic and mesmerizing. This review/rave/rant about the duo is long overdue.
I’ve listened to their music on repeat numerous times, and still due, (heehee just as I’m writing this of course!). Saw them at Coachella, and it seemed that they just didn’t have the budget to blow the crowd away, but it was still an excellent live show. Hardly hear the guitar which is one of my favorite parts, but hello—SAXOPHONE LIVE YES THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I also was at Coachella when they happened to play a free small intimate show at my school… -sigh-
Keep Shelly in Athens are from Athens, Greece, an experimental duo who are anonymous in the most deepest respects who are here to just produce what they want, some distinct sounds that may be categorized as chillwave, progressive rock, and in most simplest terms, electronic. It is so easy for me to jump around and name off so many points and things I like about their tracks, but I’ll go old-fashioned and review their releases. This is on “In Love With Dusk”. To find posts on other releases, stay tuned. Will link eventually.
Maybe tl;dr….? Oh well! Read and listen at the same time!! All of their tracks are available on Last.fm. Else, go download! Here is their blogspot: http://keepshellyinathens.blogspot.com/ You can find all their various contacts there!
In Love With Dusk
1. “Running Out of You”
This is a slow song, and took some time to grow on me, but if you don’t fistpump to this outro, listen to it more, and then we can party. It starts off with some slow vox, occassional bangs on the drum and crazy, but simple, guitar lines here and there. Just some interesting sounds, it’s awesome. May be one of their more Gothic tracks. I’ll just use one of my favorite words on it: melancholy. Watch the official video below, you’ll see. In my opinion the official vid is kind of cliche hipster boring, but hey its interesting to watch. The following video is the song with the awesome groovy outro.
Official video
M I N E from Thanasis Tsimpinis on Vimeo.
With outro
2. “Cremonia Memories”
Awesome synth, jazzy vibes and jazzy vocals. Probably one of my favorite upbeat tracks of theirs. Good song to wake up to or go to bed to. Really, you have to listen to all their music in a row, albums in order, and it just works. You can find this on YouTube.
3. “Fokionos Negri Street”
This is a great light-hearted song. No distinct lyrics really, just some jazzy feelings and synth. Easy drums and beats. This song has got some history of Greece in it. Fokionos Negri Street is a historical street in Kypseli, Athens. And thanks Wikipedia, stated trivia says that Keep Shelly in Athens is named after a pun on this cool city. Pretty interesting fact, I’m learning new things about this duo everyday. This is on Youtube and Last.fm
4. “Rainy Night”
Sounds exactly like the title says. Some feedback in the background of this track, can’t quite tell if it’s organic rain sounds, or if it’s just an awesome fuzziness. Reverb all up in this, but on beats, not vocals! Interesting listen.
5. “Don’t Be Afraid” The first track by the duo that I really fell in love with. Definitely one of their more, I don’t want to say commercial, but ya, basically, “normal” sounding tracks. Awesome intro, saxophone!!!, great vocals with loads of reverb, and just a good chill sound. Good for night time. Please listen to this track! This wasn’t all that great live, but this band in general is good for house speakers or headphones anyway.
6. “In Love With Dusk”
I don’t know what’s making the sounds in the intro, but I dig. This track has a beachy vibe to it definitely. Fun guitar lines, soft fuzzy sounds and feeling can be heard and felt, respectively.
Stay tuned for other posts about them!
sophievibes 