by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
With each new release from Easthampton, MA’s All Feels we’ve been treated to something a bit different, the project forming before our eyes. The one constant is Candace Clement’s (Bunny’s A Swine, Footings) fantastic songwriting. In any shape or form, from layered synth pop to glimmering indie, it seems that Clement’s finding a sweet spot between personal reflection and gluey melodies. With a full length album due out next year, All Feels has expanded beyond a solo project to incorporate Josh Levy (Outro), Will Meyer (Stoner Will & The Narks), and Jon Shina, bringing Clement’s vision to life. Following “Middling,” our introduction to the new line-up back in May, the band return with a new two song single, Shoreline / Absent, out today via Flower Sounds (See Jazz, The Lentils, Bobbie), a gorgeous pair of thoughtful alternative rock songs that could and should be FM gold.
Opening with an ever so slightly wonky jangle that warps the pop timing of “Shoreline,” All Feels come out gleaming. There’s an immediate sense of familiarity on first listen that’s simply ingrained in Clement’s music, it’s loose and a bit ramshackle, but the massive syrupy melodies are inescapable, at times reminiscent of early Modest Mouse and Built to Spill, while at other points we get hints of Breeders and maybe a touch of Chastity Belt. It doesn’t necessarily sound like any of those artists, but All Feels pull in earworms in a similar way, with the focus just left of center, it gives the otherwise pop swell an uncanny sense of nuance and delight. “Shoreline” seems to focus on concerns for the planet and the impending destruction, one detached thought connected to the next, and yet there’s a sense of cheer in the sound, a resilient sense that all hope is not yet lost.