Review: Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop

by Kevin Eagan

The indie underground has always thrived upon borrowing from the past to create something new, discovering new styles that can't be easily defined and have not yet been exploited by the mainstream. In music, as well as in art, indie artists try to reject modern approaches by tearing apart the sounds and actions that make up the current pop culture.

It's an approach that is not new by any means. In fact, it's an approach that sparked the high modernism of early 20th-century art when Ezra Pound so famously urged artists to "make it new," sparking a revolution of new approaches that may seem tame now, but caused riots at the time (see Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring for an example of the power of the new).

Modern indie musicians continue to revolutionize sound, and even as they become a part of the mainstream, many of them continue to try new things. Beck's 2005 EP GameBoy Variations is a great example. By re-mixing some of his most recent hits using a Nintendo Game Boy, Beck connected his music to the sounds of an emerging generation while taking a completely new approach to his songs.

It's with this concept of modern indie music that I approached Shy Child's latest LP Noise Won't Stop, an album that takes the electronic noises of the modern world (cell phone beeps, game consoles, MacBooks, whatever) and mixes it all into some beautifully composed songs. At the same time, Shy Child borrows heavily from 1980s pop and modern dance music to create something oddly familiar, yet far out in space.

Noise Won't Stop begins with "Drop The Phone," a song chocked full of beeps, buzzes, and dial tones. Using synth noises on top of a driving drum beat, singer Pete Cafarella adds in situational lyrics to accentuate the cell phone theme: "Then I just lost the signal / the signal's gone." It's a powerful start, but there are better moments on this album.

The album continues with "Pressure to Come," a song more in tune with modern dance and electronica than anything from the past. Drummer Nate Smith adds some complex drumming on top of sirens and Cafarella's keytar riffs. On "The Volume," the electronica takes on a more vintage tone, and Smith uses a drum machine to keep with the '80s mood. While "The Volume" has a straightforward sound, the syncopation is complicated, and Cafarella's vocals summarize the band's lifestyle: "The volume's turned up too loud, but we don't cover our ears / Because they're already numb, from damage already done." Indeed, Noise Won't Stop is an album designed to be enjoyed at high volume.

Noise Won't Stop takes a turn with "Generation Y," a song that nods to the generation that will make or break the band. Cafarella makes generational distinctions that suggest the changes ahead, and since "change" has been the buzzword of the year, it seems to be something Shy Child embrace as well; while the band declares "We got it, we got it," Cafarella sings "Generation Y can't get things off their mind / Generation X can't get things off their chest." And in "Murder Capital," Cafarella waxes political, singing "Everybody is looking over themselves...Selling things to get the means to get what they want," a telling sign that Shy Child's music has more depth than the music alone can suggest.

Yet the music on Noise Won't Stop is still highly successful, and it's packed full of beautifully synthesized orchestration. On title track "Noise Won't Stop," the band creates a beautiful new anthem for us Pitchfork readin' Millennials, and on "Summer," the band bangs out some beautiful poetry that contrasts a carefree lifestyle with a Lennon-esque "war is over": "Just in time for summer / And the war is over and the fighting overseas / Teenage sex and yoga, marijuana, I can hardly breathe / Underground communities are overflowing with possibilities."

Without a doubt, Shy Child are a band that's attuned to the here and now, and express the hope for the future that so many feel is just around the corner. At the same time, Shy Child operate on the cusp of the indie underground, creating some new and experimental sounds while borrowing heavily from the past. At a time when the indie underground is truly thriving, Shy Child certainly aren't cramping anyone's style, and Noise Won't Stop is a great example of what can be done when artists choose to "make it new."

Originally Posted on Blogcritics.org