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Shelflife Records describes itself as “an enthusiastic collection of people …devoted to the independent sounds of indie pop and it's accompanying aesthetics... happy and carefree melodies accompanied by ba-da-ba's (or la-la-la's)... and a certain eternal naiveté.” Like the label itself, this description also fittingly describes the latest member of the Shelflife family, Evening Lights, whose 5 track EP debut “Landscape” was released on August 11th of this year. Featuring members of The Autocollants, Monterey, In A Day, and Laura Watling, Evening Lights represents a collaboration of artistry and sound. “Landscape” is sprinkled with intricate jangly guitar-pop melodies, that call to mind, at different moments, the best of this genre such as Belle and Sabastian, An April March, Pale Saints and even very faintly the Cocteau Twins (Milk & Kisses era). Throughout “Landscape” the sweet twee-kissed vocals of Laura Watling and Daphne Major weave expertly between the layers of sound that range from pure guitar pop, in the opening track “telephone and trafficlights”, to subtle shoegaze elements and floaty blankets of reverb, in the title track, to the bass driven 3rd track “Phaedra” which, of all the tracks on the EP, best shows off the beautiful combination of the band's two female vocalists. If there is a weakness on this release, (and it is difficult to find one), it would be that while lyrically adequate the words that accompany many of the superior melodies on “landscape” fall a bit short from being truly satisfying. For me, the lyrics seemed a bit disconnected from the music that surrounded them – as though each element were telling a different story. The exception to this being the 3rd track, “Phaedra” in which the sadness and isolation of the song’s subject is clearly echoed in the music. That said, it is important to note that on “Landscape” the star is truly the music and that star shines very brightly and beautifully. All in all, this debut EP is well worth checking out. Fans of other Shelflife bands will easily recognize Evening Lights as “one of their own” in this release, whereas indie music lovers who are new to Shelflife, will find “Landscape” to be a wonderful introduction to both the band and its label.
JENNIFER JONES
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