by Elizabeth Braaten (@elizabethbwords)
Pittsburgh rockers Silver Car Crash returned with Shattered Shine, their first album in five years. The long-anticipated project is their second full-length offering, serving as the follow-up to 2018’s Resource Body. Silver Car Crash make sure the wait was worth it — Shattered Shine is a must-listen for rock fans. The album’s insistent bass lines, moody guitar riffs, timely lyricism, and raw emotion make this a project that listeners can rage to while also nursing their existential dread.
The four-piece DIY indie outfit is made up of Justin Bennett (guitar and vocals), Conner Kapelewski (guitar and vocals), Zack Mester (drums), and Brandon Walker (bass and vocals). The group is carving out a name for themselves in the Steel City and beyond, having earned their place as one of the most buzzworthy acts in the Pittsburgh music scene. They’re in a very different headspace than they were during the making of Resource Body. Shattered Shine finds the group at an existential crossroads of sorts — on a personal level, the quartet is at the end of their early twenties, grappling with a heightened sense of self-awareness, and chasing their dreams. Meanwhile, at a macro level, they’re witnesses to climate destruction, societal collapse, and the ever-present sense of impending doom young people bear in 21st century society.
It’s a heavy burden for anyone to carry, and Bennett sums the feeling up nicely on “Ways to Exist,” the album’s closing track, musing, “Never thought I’d end up like this/Gotta find new ways to exist.” That sentiment is what the project is all about — finding new ways to exist and enjoying our journey as much as possible, even if we don’t yet know where it will take us. “We wanted the songs to have physicality,” Bennett says in a Q&A with Connor Murray of Crafted Sounds (via Big Takeover). “A sort of refusal to give in or give up or take the path of least resistance. Songs for steeling yourself against the world.” Mester adds, “When I’m playing or listening to this music, I experience a visceral catharsis that helps purge feelings of anxiety and existential depression”.
Shattered Shine does just that for listeners — Silver Car Crash isn’t afraid to make noise, whether it’s instrument-driven or saying what’s on their minds. The killer bass line of the album opener “Interference” sets the tone for the rest of the project and accompanies a persistent, cathartic refrain (“It’s interference”). Meanwhile, the lyrical gut-punches of “Pleasure Zone” (“I was busy being born out of the pleasure zone/I couldn’t stand myself until I learned to live alone”) ride an unforgettable guitar riff reminiscent of 80s post-punk.
“Crime,” a song Kapelewski made about an old friend with a habit of recklessly driving drunk, is emotionally devastating — both for its subject matter and for Kapelewski’s clear effort to relate to the feelings of a person he cares for that’s struggling. The biting sarcasm of “Sun Dried Tomatoes,” a track Walker made as a response to societal apathy towards impending disasters like climate change and increasing political tension, gives a voice to the justified frustrations of this generation of young people.
Shattered Shine is a thoughtful project from a band that seems like they’re on the cusp of making it big.“I have to fight the voice in me that says [the album] will blow up,” Bennett admitted in an interview with The Alternative. “I wouldn’t be mad if it did. But I’d just like for people to finally hear this.” With the utmost sincerity — so would we.