This week’s Listening Party focuses on the band Walking Shapes. Listening Party is a curated weekly column promoting music discovery and encouraging concert-going. Featuring someone we’ve been jamming out to and we recommend to the masses, each Listening Party artist has an upcoming show at a local NYC venue. Grab your headphones and read on.
WHO: Nathaniel Hoho, Jesse Alexander Kotanksy, Dan Krysa, Christopher Heinz, Jacob Generalli
THEY SAY: “alternative / chamber rock / experiemental / indie / Brooklyn”
WE SAY: Seductively-crafted Intelligent Alt Rock
FROM: Brooklyn, NY
ONLINE: https://www.walkingshapes.com/
LABELS: No Shame Records
Recent Work: July’s Full length album, Mixtape Vol. 1, available for free download
Upcoming Show: This Sunday, September 8th, Holy Smokes Art & Music Festival
Walking Shapes performs a strikingly sleek, spacey, and sensual sound. They have a few different suits, though, and that’s apparent on their debut, Mixtape Vol 1. The first song, “Pusher,” is a moody, floating tale, textural with layers of sounds that clash and collaborate, sounding like a lovechild of Here We Go Magic and Alt J. It’s an excellent number that you simply won’t want to end. Then comes their next song, “Horse,” a roaring rock song driven by a treacherous beat and bleeding guitar melody, wound with creeping harmonies and climaxing in its heartbeat chorus, driven by layers of robust vocals convincingly directing the viewer to “ride [their] horse to a better land.” The next two songs on the album (“Mechanical Arms” and “Keep”) take a different turn completely; they sound a bit like a chillwave-less Vacationer in earnest vocals, minimal instrumentation, and pop hooks. And those are only the first four songs on this mixtape. One thing is for sure: they could wear any outfit they wanted to, because they wear their choices well. See Walking Shapes this weekend at our own Holy Smokes Music & Art festival, Sunday 9/8. Tickets available here.