Dancing through a jazz club down the street from a Broadway musical, Sarah
Shannon’s voice glides across the pulsating candles which provide illumination
for the bar, swirling around the open beer bottles stranded on tables, and
into our memory banks (at least until the buzz wears off). I first met Shannon when I
made the farewell stage announcement for the terminal Velocity Girl show at
the WPBZ Buzz Bake Sale in West Palm Beach in 1996. Last night, inside an
intimate Schuba’s venue, Shannon and her band (consisting of opening act
Seldom) whisked through the adorable singer’s self-titled album. The Casa
Recording Company (owned by Ken Stringfellow of the Posies) flipped the bill for this
cross between Burt Bacharach and some old stylized 1930’s Casablanca lounge
singing shit.
I realized that Shannon was no joke, when she belted through the first few tracks of her debut, “Down,” “I’ll Run Away,” and “Call You On The Telephone.” Sara’s pulsating voice reminded me of Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays or Mary Lorsen from Madder Rose, with her ability to reel the audience in and nail those unexpected notes with perfection. The entire set was superb. The rest of the band did their thing, but the real focus was on Shannon. “What’s Mine,” and “Heaven Got Wider” were two of the more upbeat blasts which provided a much needed dance break (at least a good nod groove), and helped expand the band’s range.
While the show was happening, I thought to myself “this is the kind of show / band / night, that separates the music lovers from the posers.” I sat in a club, at 10:45 on a bitter Thursday night and witnessed a powerfully amazing singer whose debut album is extremely good, and I doubt that ANYONE really knows that this project exists.
Please get with Jessica (hyper@macconnect.com) at Hopper PR in Chicago for this enchanting piece of muse. Sarah Shannon is truly a wonderful singer, and great person who created a dynamite record. Check yourself before you wreck yourself and cop this album.
Source: Jason Anfinsen
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