I’ve given some love to these twins from Ottawa before.. and deservedly so. They’ve quietly (and then REALLY LOUDLY and then quietly again) been forging their legacy as a behemoth of intense psychedelic downtempo hardcore music. The sheer volume, diversity and intensity of their live shows has won them fans all over Canada and the USA as well, due to a diligent touring schedule.
A couple 7” on their own Concession Recs imprint were a tantalizing preview of what was to come, Sounds That Look Like Us, their first full length on one of the most forward (and well-designed) labels around these days, Revolution Winter. It’s a heartsqueezingly gorgeous album, full of nuance and blissful plateaus of controlled attacks and clutches of quiet.
The opener, “Public Strain” set the mood, dark, smoky tones with hushed lyrics copelling the listener deeper into the world of Shahman , with snaky chords that ascend a step when the brothers Johnson throw some magic dirt on the fire, things rise in fury and contract when necessary.
Look I could compare these guys to some other obscure bands and basically waste all of our time (coughmaximumrnrcough).. I’ll just say that Shahman are exactly what their namesake suggests, using music as a means of transport. There is magic at work here, a very organic kind that transcends the wood, steel and electricity of the instruments. The guitar, the drums, they are more lightening rods for the spirit world than mere instruments. You don’t need to attach your preconceptions of what “heavy” is or how they sound like this or that. They ask you, in an unassuming way to surrender to the sheer force and majesty of life as they pour it multi-prismatically through a lone drumkit and guitar. Maybe there’s something to the aspect of their twinhood where they are perfectly synced, as if one mind while moving transfixed through the slow changes in rhythm and dynamics. It’s a beautiful, overwhelming record that will explode your spirit into smithereens if you surrender to it. Pure music, completely of this generation and deserving of your attention and rapture.
