The new EP ‘New World Colour’ from Le Shiv offers a bright start to the year, and, quite frankly, boldly stands out in the post festive season deluge of releases. The band has been garnering a lot of attention with their unique brand of indie rock, including writing with Grouplove’s Andrew Wessen on their latest single ‘Charlie Don’t Go’, receiving a letter of recommendation from Coldplay’s Chris Martin and having their music feature in a Lincoln Motors advertisement starring Matthew McConaughey.
And in this case, all that glitters is in fact gold.
‘New World Colour’ is a dazzling array of sonic rockets, grounded with a genetic code from Britpop and the eighties but burnished with an antipodean sparkle of its own. Every track is an anthem, statuesque and imperial, exciting and bold. If comparisons were needed, think of a collision between MGMT, Jane’s Addiction, Spiritualized and New Order taking place in the fabled Studio 54. And then throw in some Rolling Stones and Primal Scream into the melee. An amalgam of punk, euro-disco, Britpop with a glam stomp and eyeliner.
Lead singer, Jacob ‘Pencil’ Voroshine describes the record as:
…a capsule of Le Shiv from birth to present. There are songs from the very beginnings of Le Shiv, some from a year ago and some only written in the few months before we recorded the EP
Opening track ‘Regrets and Happiness’ sets the high standard from the beginning with its ethereal and haunting beginning – as wide open as the desert sky and with a similar majestic sparkle. An ambulant thunderous bass provides a vibrant spine while the vocals are urgent and yearning, with echoing backing vocals. A slight stammer or splutter launches us into a chorus that thunders in like a cyclone and turns everything upside down. This is pulse quickening pop with a barbed wire thrill. Pop? It explodes.
‘Charlie Don’t Go’ launches with a motorik synth buzz that is redolent of thrilling eighties Euro-disco that provides a high voltage shock over an out-of-control freight train pace. Soaring choruses – a signature element of Le Shiv – thrill and excite, while the delivery is swaggering and louche. Just the right element of snot and sneer to create a glam stomp bogie with an electric current.
The swagger positively tilts you over with the heavy metal thrash of ‘Where’s My Money’ showing Le Shiv are as comfortable and adept with six strings as the electric ivories. Layered harmonies give another brilliant shine with a chorus that eviscerates and defenestrates you while you are still dancing. This is thumping excess of the most delectable variety.
‘Sing My Last Song’ provides a little respite of sorts – a yearning quasi-ballad that still sweeps through with force and stature, edged with a hint of melancholy and bombast, bridged with a falsetto interlude and an attitude: vast and expansive. It feels like an entire opera with all the drama and majesty contained in just over three minutes.
An acoustic start to title track ‘New World Colour’ provides another more reflective track before a fuzz spine creeps up underneath, with the vocals creating a cool insouciance delivered with soaring, anthemic melodies.
Final track ‘Strange Two’ emulates the acoustic start with yearning evocative vocals with an almost countrified twang, a twisted romantic paean to devotion and non-conformity. Le Shiv almost channels The Rolling Stones in this jingle jangle track that shimmers in the firmament and builds up to a stirring, anthemic crescendo.
Le Shiv have delivered an epic EP that strikes like an illegal makeshift prison weapon piercing the vital organs : an electric jolt of searing melodic anthems that shine and sparkle and sets the heart racing. Le Shiv have set an impossibly high bar for their contemporaries for the year ahead.
‘New World Colour’ is out now and available to download and stream here.
‘New World Colour’ will be supported by East Coast headline tour dates throughout March. Tickets
are available for purchase now here.
Le Shiv ‘New World Colour’ Tour details are:
Thursday 15th February – King Street, Newcastle NSW^
Friday 16th February – Hello Sailor, Port Macquarie NSW^
Friday 15th March – Oxford Art Factory Gallery, Sydney NSW
Saturday 16th March – Drifters Wharf, Gosford NSW*
Sunday 17th March – King Street, Newcastle NSW*
Friday 22nd March – The Gasometer, Melbourne Vic
Friday 29th March – Bangalow Bowlo, NSW
Saturday 30th March – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane Qld
^Supporting Coterie
*Supporting Dune Rats
