Shy Boys

Shy Boys – Bell House (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 22:27 minutes | 249 MB | Genre: Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Polyvinyl Records

Kansas City’s Shy Boys make bright indie-pop filled with a capella harmonies, jangly lines, and earnest lyrics (Kevin Morby calls them “the heartland’s answer to The Beach Boys had Alex Chilton been on guitar.”) Comprised of two brothers and former choir boys Collin and Kyle Rausch and their best friends, the band has displayed a musical kinship and keen sense of melody since their debut in 2014. This new collection, named after their “bum den” on Bell Street in Kansas City, took shape when Collin moved back into his suburban childhood home. Songs recount personal anecdotes—a neighbor’s underloved dog, the time the drummer/bassist got robbed—that will “warm your cold heart,” says Pitchfork. Out on Polyvinyl Records.

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Shy Boys – Talk Loud (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 29:58 minutes | 628 MB | Genre: Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Polyvinyl Records

Each album feels different, and the audience gets the pleasure of listening in while Shy Boys experiment with and master new sounds. On their new album, Talk Loud, our Shy Boys are clearly so in sync with each other that they are able to explore getting out of sync in a way that feels right. The album is fun and scary at the same time. Right when you start to feel comfortable you turn a corner into a different dimension. They pan vocals, take audible breaths. The backing vocals are pure feeling. There’s a comfort to feeling surrounded by the five distinct voices that make up Shy Boys, but once in a while it starts to feel foreboding, too.Touring can be a grind, and it can also feel like summer camp. Bands develop shorthand for communication, get used to tight quarters. You talk to each other and you sit in silence. It magnifies and affects your relationships with your bandmates, with yourself, and what home means to you. With Bell House, the tight-knit Shy Boys spent about a “year-and-a-half cheek-to-cheek in a conversion van touring the country,” recalls lead singer, Collin Rausch. They became friends with artists they’d been fans of… tripped in northern California under the redwoods… played for a couple thousand people and… played for two people. Arriving home from this intense journey together and separating from each other physically aligned with some personal and musical perspective changes. The outcome is an album that grapples with attachment.

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