Shame - Drunk Tank Pink LP (black vinyl)

The genius of Drunk Tank Pink is how these lyrical themes dovetail with the music. Opener Alphabet dissects the premise of performance over a siren call of nervous, jerking guitars, it's chorus thrown out like a beer bottle across a mosh pit. Songs spin off and lurch into unexpected directions throughout here, be it March Day's escalating aural panic attack or the shapeshifting darkness of Snow Day. There's a Berlin era Bowie beauty to the lovelorn Human For A Minute while closer Station Wagon weaves from a downbeat mooch into a souring, soullifting climax in which Steen elevates himself beyond the clouds and into the heavens. Or at least that's what it sounds like. From the womb to the clouds (sort of), Shame are currently very much in the pink.

•  Alphabet
•  Nigel Hitter
•  Born in Luton
•  March Day
•  Water in the Well
•  Snow Day
•  Human, for a Minute
•  Great Dog
•  Harsh Degrees
•  6/1
•  Station Wagon