Shvllows
Writer
Shvllows have seen a successful year in 2016, going from being a relatively unknown group to playing at the Glasgow Tenement trail on the 8th of October. Their new release Zurich completes their second single of the year.
As the track begins we are introduced to a repetition which will form the backbone of the song. My initial reaction wasn’t overly joyous at this, but as the lyrics start becoming more prominent, the song develops a nice easy listening feel. Slipping back into sections of melody without lyrics every now and again creating a jaunty connotation with sensation of free fall before the listener is pushed back into the chorus.
The free fall sequence in the song seems to represent the idea of anxiety and self doubt which the song is acclaimed to portray, alongside the idea that you are never truly alone, hence the move back into the chorus. Whilst paralleling with idea of anxiety being random rather than a consistent feeling, I found this doesn’t come across as strongly when it comes to lyrics. With points of inaudibility, the lyrics are hard to get a grasp on and without prior knowledge of the track’s meaning; those lyrics which you can hear don’t give a listener much to go on.
With this said, as a new force on the electro-pop scene in the UK, Shvllows do seem to have a nice feel to their tracks, with what the lyrics fail to add in depth being made up for in their augmentation of the sound of the single. Zurich would make a great addition to anyone’s playlists which contain bands like the 1975, as it provides a not all too dissimilar feeling to much of their work.
