Shannon Gallant makes jaunty, carefree acoustic pop, music so full of joy that you could listen to it while walking through a dark, spooky forest at midnight and it would simply serve to put a spring in your step...
No, I'm afraid I'm joking. In fact, if you listened to this stuff while walking through a dark, spooky forest at midnight, they'd probably have to drag you out in a straitjacket and convince you that the trees definitely didn't want to eat you...
If you ever came out at all, that is...
Mwahahaha...
Anyway. Yes. Shannon Gallant is a fairly idiosyncratic musical presence, to say the least. Her music, from her own odd, unsettling originals to an album of haunting, ethereal takes on various classical pieces, incorporates elements of Bat for Lashes-esque goth pop, electronica, trip hop, free jazz and stream-of-consciousness spoken wordisms. Her original compositions have titles like “Purgatory” and “Dance of the Dearly Departed”. Her classical “cover versions” involve her own improvised vocals, sung in a language of her own devising. Are you still reading?
Good, because although her gothic stylings occasionally tip over into Hammer Horror melodrama, Gallant certainly has a unique voice. Her singing is simultaneously sweet and menacing, her production style subtle and full of creepy piano and wonky guitar, and if you can get past the fact that the whole thing sometimes feels like a conceptual project by a troubled sixth former who's seen too many horror films, there's more here than at first meets the eye. Her interpretations of pieces by composers such as Bizet are equally bizarre, and if you can stomach the idea of someone singing made up words over some heavyweight classical music, they provide a pleasant, sometimes beguiling contrast with her original pieces. I'm still not sure they were an entirely good idea, but they work well as a curio.
Shannon Gallant definitely won't be to everyone's tastes. But if you're looking for something different – and something which you probably shouldn't listen to alone in an empty house – then you should have a gander at her Band Camp.
If you dare!
Mwahahaha...
Sorry.
Review by Stefan Mohamed
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