Is/Is – Shadow Days
Is/Is are Portland-via-Minneapolis pair Sarah Rose and Sarah Nienabar (here supported by drummer Mara Appel) and, depending on your point of view, their career trajectory suggests either at their being Jack-of-all-trades or masters of at least two. Initially known for impeccably melodic Girl Group garage-punk, Shadow Days is a real change of pace for the duo.
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There’s a newfound sense of ethereality to Rose’s reverbed vocal as well as to Nienabar’s melancholy strains of haunted dream-pop. It’s all a little spooky but a really rather beguiling 30 minutes all the same. The sleepy standout, “Before The Stars”, is an infectious high-and-lonesome drizzle of acoustic guitar and tambourine. What follows is all very atmospheric, a ghostly ebb-and-flow that erases these desert Sirens’ footprints in the sand almost before they’ve had time to register.
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A light synth swell fills the wide-open spaces of “Blank Sky” – an impossibly patient unplugged and shoegazy sigh. In turn, the barely-there “December” plods along like a lazy burro under an infinitely starry night, while the pretty, windblown “My Time (Taking)” raises questions as to whether you ever really heard it all, the cold fingers at its outer reaches raising the hairs on the back of your neck. Safe to say we’re not on the fence. Shadow Days is masterful stuff.
~The 150-run Shadows Days cassette is out now on Moon Glyph.~