In No Particular Order: Shame & Danielle Durack Take Over (Jan 15, 2021)

Another week, another In No Particular Order.

There has been a crazy amount of music releasing this past week, but despite all of that, I’ve narrowed my favourite albums down to two to keep things short and sweet this week. Phoenix, Arizona singer-songwriter Danielle Durack has shared her tear-jerker of an album No Place, and British post-punk quintet Shame have returned with an articulate sophomore-slump-dodging release.

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Danielle Durack – No Place

Singer-songwriter

7.5/10

One of my favourite quotes is from (500) Days of Summer, where the sad, heartbroken protagonist claims Henry Miller said, “The best way to get over a woman is to turn her into literature”. Or for Phoenix-based singer-songwriter Danielle Durack, turn him into music. Her new album No Place is a musical journey through the moments of sadness, longing, loneliness, and contemplation that occur during a break-up. As a grieving process of sorts, her songwriting over the course of the last year or so has been motivated by the cathartic release. Named after the literal English translation of the Latin word ‘utopia’, No Place is the search for the sanctuary of moving on from a past love, through the blind trust and hope that things will get better.

And just like how a break-up is often consolidated with close friends and relatives, No Place came together her Danielle’s highs chool pal/producer, and her brother and close friend on instrumental duties.

At the foundation level, what makes this record so strong is the humble and honest vulnerability that is expressed both through her lyrics and voice. On songs like “Broken Wings”, where she admits to her poor taste in partners, or “Eggshells”, the album’s closer, as Durack spills out what she couldn’t get herself to say to her partner as things were coming to its end, Danielle is at her most inspiring, giving her angelic vocals the needed catalyst to really break through. But most notably is her performance on the piano ballad “There Goes My Heart”, a gut-wrenching piece about the dampening gloom of heartbreak that effortlessly turns everyday tasks into tolling chores.

The combination of everything – her experience, her self-expression, her homegrown musical style – has a certain clarity and articulation that can be easily compared to Phoebe Bridgers, but just without a prominent name (for now). There’s something extra enjoyable and personal about listening to No Place with that in mind, as if it’s an unfiltered, friend-to-friend delivery of what she needs to say.

Notable tracks: “Broken Wings” // “There Goes My Heart” // “Eggshells”

Shame – Drunk Tank Pink

Post-punk/Indie rock

8/10

British post-punk five piece Shame pushed the release date of their sophomore album Drunk Tank Pink into the new year, for what I can only assume was for optimistic reasons combined with COVID slowdowns. Either way, not much has changed in the first few weeks of 2021 – and that within itself is why Drunk Tank Pink is even more fitting to the times.

Snarky, cynical, and sarcastic are at the helm of a lot of British post-punk revivalists, Shame making the most of the defining characteristic on their latest release. The band had finished recording the album by January 2020, following their tour in support of 2018’s debut effort Songs Of Praise, so the attitudes and subtle tenacity are genuine and untainted from 2020.

This new release is much more focused and deliberate, as they smash through fourty-something minutes of music written within the confines of frontman Charlie Steen’s pink-painted closet – hence the title. The claustrophobic environment, fresh from a dizzying whirlwind of touring and press as young adults stepping into the world of adulthood, was the needed escape for Steen to process his budding career. Songs like “Alphabet”, “Born In Luton”, and “6/1” have a raw, jabbing style, rounded out by ’70s post-punk and avant-garde alternative rock, from bands like Talking Heads and Television, thrown into more effect-laden sounds of bands like Foals and IDLES.

Angst and uneasiness fill out the shifting song structures of the doomsday “Snow Day” and road-tripping closer “Station Wagon”, the latter really showing the bands diversity in the genre, as they slip into a steady, deadpan, before the walls of guitars and drums inch their way closer and closer and closer…There’s a fleeting sense of confidence that draws people in with the hope that things will soon crumble underneath.

Notable tracks: “Born In Luton” // “Snow Day” // “Great Dog”