Shimmering guitar feedback splashes as an announcement of the onset of the Shivas’ Whiteout, released at the end of April on K Records. A piercing scream, a clear play on the song’s title “Swimming With Sharks,” segues into the ferocious, lo-fi beach-pop and summery garage rock that ensues.
One of the best things about K Records is their ability to continually surprise you. Since the label functions as a regional imprint and puts out material from those that seem most committed to their own passions and artistic expression, you never know what sort of adventurous undertaking will emerge from the stalwart label. So, even though garage rock has seen a massive resurgence in recent months and years, we could have guessed that Whiteout would offer some intriguing stylistic approaches that set the album apart from recent similar efforts.
Whiteout boasts lo-fi indie-rock and garage pop not unlike a good number of bands such as Unknown Mortal Orchestra, White Fence, or Night Beats, the latter two of which both performed at Austin Psych Fest alongside The Shivas. However, The Shivas provide greater dexterity in balancing their arrangements, delivering plenty of buzzing guitars and gritty vocals while integrating undeniably infectious early 60s pop influences. It’s that pop that makes them feel right at home on K, and their fun-loving guitar tones and tom-centered drums even recall early K band Beat Happening, especially on “Gun In My Pocket” and “Living and Dying Like Horatio Alger.”
The DIY lo-fi folk of the Northwest isn’t lost in the record, and like other bands before them, The Shivas find a way to weave acoustics into the collection of songs that comprise Whiteout. The clean, sparse electric notes and percussive snare-rim clicks floating on tape hiss at the beginning of “Thrill Yr Idols” sound almost identical to a musical interlude from Washington State band Kickball’s final album. (In fact, The Shivas’ general aesthetic reminds me off Kickball, perhaps due in part to both groups’ energetic live performances.) Eventually, “Thrill Yr Idols” bursts wonderfully into upbeat guitars and fun melodies and kicks out a great bridge.
From the stream of drummers in Sleater-Kinney, which includes the incredibly talented and longest lasting Janet Weiss, to Lisa Schonberg, the drummer of the aforementioned band Kickball, excellent female percussionists seem to be a defining feature of music from the Pacific Northwest. The Shivas’ Kristen Leonard is right at home in this company, generating beats simultaneously furiously propulsive and danceable. She also provides vocals for the early-60s-informed, lo-fi dancefloor tune “Baby I Need You,” which features tinny and compressed shimmers of guitar chords.
After some meandering beachy vibes in the record’s middle, late album cuts unfurl more blistering and jammy psychedelic swirls of instrumentation on “Kissed in the Face” and “Manimal.” Whiteout concludes with the swaying pop of “Paradise,” a perfect soundtrack to drifting to sleep near a Northwestern beach bonfire. Sometimes aggressively immediate and at others drifting by in gentle waves, Whiteout is a record that’s easy to play from start to finish, offering variety and depth that not present in like-minded records out at the moment. By creating a solid album that’s bolstered by an amazing live show, The Shivas are a band that has the raw materials for the making of something magical.
