Idyllically sitting along the River Avon lies the village of Downton. It’s there, about 100 miles southwest of London, that you will find Shapes Like People, the husband-and-wife duo of Carl and Kat Mann.
Just off a busy road in their utterly quaint British country home topped with traditional thatched roof, Carl and Kat played my wife and me the finished tracks that would become ”Under the Rainbow”. At the time, six months back, I couldn’t tell anyone what we’d heard. I was blown away then, as now, by the quality of their joyous songs. One after the other, the 12 songs deftly mine jangle- and dream-pop with hooks and harmonies galore. But what’s really special here is the balance they bring to the turntable. It’s rare to pull off such blissful music that doesn’t spinout in a sickly-sweet sugar crash, but Shapes delivers in spades. Their dopamine boosting melodies and harmonies are ceaselessly addictive.
Carl has long been growing his jangle-pop cottage industry in orders of magnitude. He’s a music obsessive, with a vinyl record collection to die for. He’s also the dynamo behind “Rainbow”, singing harmony vocals, strumming electric/acoustic guitars, playing bass, keys, percussion and programming, while also producing, mixing, and mastering the LP.
He’s played in several bands including jangle-, dream-pop, shoegaze outfit, The Shop Window, which the Big Takeover has fully embraced going on five years. Three albums in their latest was a must-have double album.
Never one to sit still, Carl crafts addictive jangled melodies as easily as other folks breathe. Needing an additional outlet beyond “the Shoppies” for his vast wellspring of songs he ventured into making records with his gifted vocalist wife, Kat. Their band Shapes Like People (named after a lyric from an early track they wrote together) produced a sterling debut, ”Ticking Haze” (Jangleshop, 2025).
Indeed, Carl says “By the time ‘Ticking Haze’ was released I’d already written three new songs (“Lately”, “First Version of You” and “Crushing Silence”) that were possibly going to be for a solo project. However, the response to our debut album was so encouraging that we decided to get straight on with another Shapes Like People record. We re-jigged those first few songs and carried on from there.”
As Carl further noted at their recent bandcamp listening party, “There are three tracks that triangulate the album for me; ‘Spiral Back in Time’, ‘Find Me There’ and ‘Be OK’ and I believe they hold it all together on its journey.” Wisely, Shapes sequenced the record with “Spiral” and “Be OK” as bookends, and “Find Me” in the middle.
“Spiral Back in Time” kicks off with upbeat synthy strings and moody guitars. Musically it will remind listeners of The Shop Window. Kat’s self-harmonized vocal tracks (a frequent and potent feature of Shapes) bring an otherworldly uplifting quality to the tune – one of the strongest on the record – washing over you like later period classics from Cocteau Twins. Lyrically the song counterbalances the soaring melodies. Carl says it’s “about the tangle the human race seems to have got itself into.”
“Find Me There” epitomizes Carl’s writing mind. Kat says “I often have to go hunting for him when he’s lost in creating a new song. For him it’s deeply personal, which is probably why it’s so relatable.” This slow-burner grabs with its stormy eminence, warming up the room with beautiful harmonies. The video was a now hilarious adventure in itself, with the elements nearly freezing Carl and Kat to death during filming.
Carl wrote “Be OK” many years ago when he and Kat lived in New Zealand, but scrapped it until now. Stripped back, slowed down and transformed, Kat proudly says it is “My absolute favorite track on this record! I can only hope it gets as much listening time as it deserves.”
“Rainbow”’s title track is a stunner, chugging along briskly with chiming guitars and a military snare drum beat that galvanizes the track. Carl’s vocal harmonies are higher in the mix than much of the last LP, adding wonderful depth to the song. Carl also feeds in one of his hallmark arrangement moves, ending the song with the very same delicate structural guitar notes that begin it.
“Rainbow” has several superb up-tempo tracks. “First Version of You” is a standout. The harmonies swim alongside the twangiest, jangliest guitars. Carl says “This was going to be the fourth single. The 12-string Guild guitar got to come out and jangle its heart away for this one.” “Rhythm” is another later-album jangle-fest, reminiscent of another Scots band, Motorcycle Boy. The vocal harmonies breathe through the speakers. As one of two songs Kat wrote about Carl, it’s hardly sappy, lyrically speaking to Carl’s obsession with music. Says Kat, “Someone (incredibly intelligent of course) once said you write about what you know and love… He is breathing melodies 24/7 – his ‘drug of choice’ that gives both of us balance I guess?!”
The excellent cover-with-a-twist, “Supergirl”, sonically aligns with jangle-brethren, R.E.M.. The story behind it is a good one. Carl says “This track came about over a Friday night pint. Kat is working on VFX for the upcoming ‘Supergirl’ movie, and as a bit of a joke I suggested covering Superman… with a twist! The following morning the idea was taking shape as I started to put some guitar parts together. Tracking down the right people for clearance took some investigation.” Kat rightly points out “The video is hilarious. That doll is the best £5 eBay purchase we’ve made in years!”
The music on Shapes records often skews joyful, even when lyrics are heavier. “Crushing Silence” stands out on this LP, taking in aspects of 80s R.E.M. shrouded in wispy shoegaze gauze. Its presence on “Rainbow” adds a dose of darkness to the album that even Kat questioned. As Carl reflects, “Kat was a bit reluctant at first but it eventually got under her skin. I often imagine playing this one live and hearing it pumping out of a huge PA. It was a lot of fun layering up the guitars.” Not one to hold back, Kat says “I absolutely hated this song at first… It didn’t seem to fit, felt depressing to sing… and now I TAKE IT ALL BACK!! I find myself singing this all the time – it’s such an ear worm.”
“Daisy” is a late-album gem that cuts to the bone. Acoustic guitars are high in the mix of this deceptively simple song structure. As Kat reflects, “This song is for every parent who has lost a pregnancy. Prior to the arrival of our boy Jack, we lost our first. It was truly the worst day of our lives. We never really had a way to say goodbye or share how utterly devastated we were at the time. Carl left me to write the lyrics for this track, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to remember and say farewell after all these years, in a way that will always exist. I could never sing this live. I’d be in absolute bits before I’d even made the halfway mark! But I’m super proud of it. I think it gave us some closure, and an opportunity to support others in a similar way.”
I can’t totally put my finger on it, but Shapes music just gets into the bloodstream and crosses the blood-brain barrier. It’s a whole-body transfusion. Even on songs when they lyrically speak to tough subjects like “Daisy” Carl and Kat convey something vital, relatable, and life affirming about what it is to be alive, dealing with the shit as well as the good stuff and doing it with the one you love (R.E.M. pun, sorry!)
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