Maidstone outfit The Shop Window released their second album ‘A 4 Letter Word’ at the end of November via the impeccable Spinout Nuggets imprint. It was recorded Raffer Studios in Kent, produced by Callum Rafferty, and features Sarah Records icon Beth Arzy (currently of Jetstream Pony & Luxembourg Signal) on backing vocals on four tracks.
‘A 4 Letter Word’ is avail;ble to buy on their Bandcamp page.
At several points ‘A 4 Letter Word’ finds a way to reimagine their love of indie’s angelic past for the modern day. Former single ‘Lighthouse’ s guitars imbue the angelic sheen of The Mock Turtles and through Carl Mann and Simon Oxlee’s vocals, the glorious rumble of Teenage Fanclubs comes alive. Whereas opener ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ finds the Medway’s beat traditions caress the hushed beauty of The Railway Children. Its laid-back stomp builds to a sumptuous wah-wah solo on this tale of wonder and exploration of the soul.
‘On That Feeling’ and ‘Maid of Stone’, they take their Medway indie for an away day to Manchester. The former finds them in Stone Roses territory but, one where the icons had adopted a folksy sonic to their Byrdsian rock ‘n’ roll. As Mann decree “When I Get That Feeling I'm alive / Hold on to the moment now it’s right” the agitation of the Roses’ lack of new music subsides. The Shop Window have found a way to make that explosion of colour from 1989 sound sage and meaningful in middle age. On ‘Maid of Stone’, they rekindle their youth in Maidstone where dreams were made and lost. Like ‘On That Feeling’, it has a wisdom to it, a sense that they have come full circle, have come home. In doing so, the heavenly paisley guitars of early John Squire and more pertinently Andrew Innes circa ‘Sonic Flower Groove’ flood the senses in much the same way their peers The Shed Project have done so adeptly.
Manchester’s heritage surfaces once more ‘Circles Go Round’ and ‘Lay of the Land’. ‘Circles Go Round’ is undeterred by their youth passing. The spirit of ‘Teenage Kicks’ has soared to the surface on this great homage to The Smiths. ‘Lay of the Land’ find is the most interesting piece on the album. Vocally, Mann adopts Damon Albarn’s smoky drawl as the band adopts Blur’s brief involvement with the baggy scene. As the chorus climbs to a euphoric state, the guitars take on the warped world of The Cure, occasionally offering a DMA’s lightness before the deranged glitch re-emerges to signify that, although their souls remain free from that era, life has changed and taken its toll. A truly remarkable sonic take on life’s responsibilities taking grip.
Former Aberdeen singer Beth Arzy appears on four tracks and shines brightest on ‘Dancing Light’. The hallmarks of Deacon Blue and REM’s great alt-pop flirt with Buck and Marr’s guitars whilst Mann and Arzy create the nearest thing to vocal beauty since The Cocteau Twins.
The Kent outfit have lit up a bleak year with this gentle yet defiant indie-pop record. Everywhere you turn there are nods to the 80s and 90s but, with astute sonic updates. Lyrically, they accept nostalgia less as a noose and more as a bridge to their untamed teenage selves and thus, provide endless tales for their souls to relive in the modern age.