by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Shimmer is the result of four brilliantly creative musicians coming together to make sludge at its most fucked up and post-punk at its most primal, and dare I say it, it feels just like whats needed these days. It's weird heavy music that stresses the weird; a chance for the band, a pairing of the underground's finest (Palberta's Nina Ryser and Ani Ivry-Block, The Cradle's Paco Cathcart, and Tredici Bacci's Simon Hanes) to unwind without expectations or limits. The portrait of their self-titled debut is forever changing, warping between experimental crusty no-wave, raw and unnerving post-punk, and filthy sludge-pop melodies, forever full of energy and gleeful unpredictability.
Though the entire record is available to stream via Ivry-Block's visual album (an experience worth watching with an open mind), we're excited to share "Crystal Listerine," a song that feels as funky as it is deranged. The song stabs and convulses, toppling over itself with grace like a somersault over a bed of nails. Ivry-Block croaks out the song's oddly anthemic vocals at her harshest, howling in time with the colossal bouncing rhythmic groove. It's a dance song at its core, disoriented but controlled, an unbelievably infectious display of the band's radiant sludge punk invading senses and judgement. Shimmer are a rare breed.
Shimmer's self-titled album is out tomorrow, September 8th, via Drop Medium Recording Technologies.