Otis Shanty's Wonderful New Record

Graphic by Sofia Giarrusso

By Nathan Hilyard

Otis Shanty’s latest album, Up On The Hill, is a tightly woven collection from one of Somerville’s shining stars. Coming from their debut album, Suite 33, and last year’s EP, Early Birds, the group has settled in a more exploratory sound; the indie pop of yore now hardening into something more elastic and playful. 

Many of the songs are born from that twenty-something social anxiety. They’re not begging to be squirreled away like a hermit, but rather noting the dissonance and emptiness that comes from the effort of connecting with others. Take the lead single, “Why Do I Care?,” a song about romance tinged by a failed effort at connection. Floating guitar lines walk right up to the opening verse: “Tell me how you’re not getting along. I did not get a word in at all.” The melancholy quickly sheds away and morphs to malaise, “Why do I care?,” as the guitar jumps and jives behind the chorus (once again) with, “Why do I care?” 

The opener, “Nobody’s Party,” moves these ideas of non-connection to the party scene, again leaning into a reverb-tinged homespun sound. These barriers of communication are surely shed off in the recording studio with the group playing as one assured unit. Bright spindly guitar riffs welcome the opening lyrics, “Same old crowd here / Spinning the same old conversations.” Lead singer Sadye Bobbette laments the difficulties of making genuine connections in the face of youthful vices of shmoozing and getting fucked up. The choruses are homespun, pouring through Bobbette’s awesomely Indigo-Girlesque vocals. 

But just as they ruminate on this indie rock sound, they’re quick to shift into high gear with “Tree Queen,” leaving any apprehension (emotionally or musically) in the dust. Simply, they’re having fun! And it shows. Washes of guitar give way to crashing symbols as pummeling drums push forwards. “Never too careful to play,” Bobbette sings, just as the final hook plays sears into the song's abrupt ending. “Tree Queen” takes on a much different sound than the rest of the record, acting as a little sojourn into a fuzzier arena of the local sound. 

They shuffle things up a few tracks later in the stand out riffed-galore trucker rock track, “Seasonal Apprehension.” Again, the group stretches their sound in a new angle. The lyrics are bored and bursting with pent up affection: “It’s raining in Somerville again / Can’t quite think of anything to do.” Taking a relationship slow is no problem when faced with that fickle seasonal apprehension, something which is surely at its most potent during a rainy Massachusetts’s day. “Seasonal Apprehension” is celebratory and ready for a stadium crowd, the final guitar solo giving way to many voices together singing “ba-da-da”’s over one final groove. I can see it now: crowds joining in for that final verse (Now everybody–!). 

The record concludes with the same masterful guitar work and solid songwriting present on each track. “Burdened” closes things out with one last tight groove–a bad nightmare morphed into a rock song. “Spin in the sheets” they sing, the song pacing back and forth like a restless night, instead aptly creating this final groove, where each player fills in each other’s gaps; they’re moving as one unit. 

Up On The Hill is a strong effort from the Somerville quartet. Showing a group of players at their strongest and most exploratory. From the slacker rock roots to stadium sized riffs and shoegaze-y washes of guitar color, the record is a masterclass in coloring in a group’s abilities. Otis Shanty proves their worth and is rocking out while doing it. 

Up On The Hill releases on September 20th via Relief Map Records. You can also catch Otis Shanty playing the Crystal Ballroom on October 24th.