Is That A Rash?

Shimmer - Shimmer
So this whole "neo-soul" thing that groups like Maroon 5 are making a lot of money playing has never really been my thing. I mean, perhaps for me it's an occasional guilty pleasure to listen and groove along to these catchy tunes, but they never seem to have must lasting power in my library. Of course, with Maroon 5 specifically, I could never get over the whole Kara's Flowers thing. I mean a band adds a few years and 1 member and all of a sudden they've got soul? Huh?

Well, my friend Justin Rosolino mentioned this band Shimmer to me sometime last year. I listened to the couple of tracks they had posted to their website and was intrigued, but was going to save my full judgement until their debut album was released. Well, here we have the new album just released this week (thanks Robert for catching it) and it is on Rhapsody.

Not quite sure what to make of this band. This disc is not what I was expecting. A lot more neo-soul than I expected. Of course, the two tracks I heard early on had solid tinges of soul, but I was hoping that the full disc would also exploit a lot of the rock those tracks showed too. "Shoulda Known" was one of those I heard a while back and it is a funkified rocker that I enjoyed. Still not my typical fare, but the guy can certainly sing and this track has some loud, groovin' guitars. Good stuff. Most of the rest of the album, though, heads more towards Maroon 5 land with a more stripped down, soul-pop approach. But, the one huge difference here that ultimately makes this disc light years better than anything the 5 of Burgundy can muster is that the lead singer, Skip Peri, has got some golden pipes. Dude can sing. Think Jeff Buckley mixed with Lenny Kravitz (the on-pitch version of Lenny) mixed with Prince. Just don't judge him by his appearance... he wears disco and 80's pop tshirts ALWAYS and sweats a lot, apparently. I urge you NOT to look at the photo section of their website before listening to their stuff. Some of it is downright frightening. The crotch-grab-while-wearing-a-George-Michael-tshirt shot is a bit much for me.

So, in the end, not what I was wanting to hear, but still a solid execution of the genre for which they are shooting. Some cool instrumentation in places and growing on me in spots... I hate to admit... I need some anti-neo-soul lotion... it's a nasty rash. Enjoy!