By: Ross Edwards
Rating: 8/11

When was the last time you heard a song that is obviously about a girl sleeping around? Was it D’Angelo? Or Bruce Springsteen? The Shivers revive the genre. While claiming to be the best rock ‘n’ roll band in NYC, they are folksy, indie, acoustic, jammy, and enigmatic. Shivers add a bleak and simplistic guitar, tinny bass, and barely-there drums background to desperate, tortured vocals, and a variety of styles that sound similar but are still interesting.

A focus is the lyrics, which are placidly poetic. On the heartbreak balled “Just Didn’t Need to Know” the low, breathy, male lead sings: “I learned so many things about you I just didn’t need to/but I can’t myself, I’m sick, I still love you so.” The song is darkly entrancing, so straightforward and intense, you can hear the anger, bitterness, regret, and longing in the singer’s voice.

“Beauty” is a slow, lonely, whiny, Bob Dylan/Leonard Cohen amalgamation (Cohen is listed as their only influence), and some of their songs are struck with well-timed, catchy melodies, like the bouncy keyboard line “African Passport.” “Cold in the Morning #2” features a lo-fi female vocalist over sustained organ and carnivalesque chorus, while “Shallow Water” is raw electric blues and distorted vocals. They bring solemnity and intensity to everything they do.