by Taylor Ruckle (@TaylorRuckle)
Shima, the new Floating Room EP, builds to a singular, uninhibited, shout-from-the-rooftop refrain in “Shimanchu.” “I’m an islander, but I’m away from my island, so I am the only island here,” screams Portland, Oregon artist Maya Stoner at the top of her lungs, getting louder and more ragged as the guitar chords sink further and further below her. The song is about her Uchinanchu heritage, something that can isolate her in the Pacific Northwest--bearing the weight of imperialism perpetrated against a people most Americans (myself included, until recently) are entirely ignorant of. “Shimanchu” is a glorious and pointed letting-loose of that frustration. “Writing this was a means to at least momentarily escape,” she explained to From the Intercom. “This song and album has made me feel empowered about being alone.”
It’s the endpoint of an arc that starts with the first track, the breezy kiss-off “See You Around.” Isolation has been something of a hot topic these past two years; for many, locking down gave the first taste of a feeling Stoner knows all too well, and she brings that extra depth to the songs on Shima. The same goes for the way the EP builds on the dreamy pop she played so well on the last Floating Room EP, 2020’s Tired and True. You can almost feel her winding up to a scream in the crescendo that closes that record’s last track, “Gun,” before the hard cutoff. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Shima is less tired and just as true, drawing on Stoner’s roots in heavier music with punchier guitars and driving-er tempos. Most of the vocals are low-key like before, but she chooses well the moments in which she shakes you to attention. Sometimes your listening may be incidental, though--the other big moment of catharsis comes at the end of a twisty ode to her younger self, “I Wrote This Song For You”.
When you listen to Shima, odds are that like (and in other ways, unlike) Stoner, you’ll be alone. Whether your own younger self needs encouragement or your present self needs to rock the loneliness away, Floating Room has you covered. When Stoner flexes her power pop muscle on a song like “Firetruck,” all versions of yourself may find it damn near impossible not to have a good time.