Shining's new album One One One comes out today. If you're sill on the fence about picking it up, come on in and stream a few songs to help you decide!
So first up, we've got "Off The Hook," which even saxophonist Jørgen Munkeby admits is influenced by pop. I'd really like to hear what the hell kind of pop he's been jamming lately, because this is the far, far end of what can be considered pop… and that's coming from a dude who doesn't give two damns about genres. Sweet song though- it's catchy in that way where you don't realize it's stuck in your head, and then you're singing that opening vocal line all day. Damn you, Shining pop!
"Blackjazz Rebels" has that "what the fuck is going on factor" for the first few seconds, then catches you in a groove. Then, somehow, they manage to take both of those emotions and jam them into thing and confusingly groove the living crap out of you. The song isn't afraid to repeat itself quite a bit, which isn't a bad thing at all. it works for what they're trying to accomplish here.
Before you point it out about "My Dying Drive," here's Mr. Munkeby-
The opening melody is meant as a direct link to "Fisheye," the most popular song on our previous album. Also I’m very satisfied with the way the lyrics in the verses bites itself in the tail in each line by repetition of words.
The lyrical thing is super cool in this song. It really helps get that extra tie between lines to keep you moving along until all hell breaks into the chorus and next verse with the intro riff in there again. If anything, this one comes off way more pop-influenced than "Off The Hook" did. That weird atonal intro riff is the absolute jam and will not get out of my head now.
"The One Inside" has the same kind of effect on me that "Blackjazz Rebels" did in that the intro kind of made me wanna move my head in ways I'm not entirely sure it would go, and then the verse hits and I'm immediately energized and ready to rock the hell out. "The One Inside" is way industrial, almost in a Nine Inch Nails way, which is way sick- any good band that can do a Nine Inch Nails impression and make it their own has got the skills to pay the bills. Which I assume Shining has a lot of. Anyway, it's all industrial up until the little sax break, where it goes all types of nuts with the weird noises… so wait for that.
The last song we'll be looking at it "I Won't Forget," which is just about as straightforward as you'd expect Shining to get. Sure, it's all 4/4 groove, and then blam! Right back into that really strange Shining groove, which turns into quite possibly the sickest groove they've laid down yet. Skip to about 0:40 to figure out what I'm talking about; that's just undeniable right there.
