New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Today, shapeshifting Philadelphia-via-Vegas artist
Shamir shares a sentimental third and final single & video "
The Beginning" from Homo Anxietatem, the 9th album & debut for Kill Rock Stars out August 18. "
The Beginning" dives into the missteps of a relationship gone by, while feeling emotionally trapped as time barrels forward. Opening with a jolting record scratch, then seamlessly flowing into a driving guitar strum, the building chorus evokes a nostalgia akin to the soundtrack of a coming-of-age film. With playful lyrical snacks like "I wish I could turn back time, just like Cher" to the painful reality check "we're so caught up on having a happy ending…we forgot the beginning" - you can't help but dance & cry along to Shamir's ever poignant songwriting. The new track follows healing first single "Oversized Sweater," bittersweet "
Our Song" & surprise release "Crime" featured in HBO's Last Call: When a Serial
Killer Stalked
Queer New York.
Shamir (he/she/they) directed the hometown video filmed in Bartram's Garden with musician friends, including members of the band Friendship and Accidental Popstar Records' own Ladifa, saying "'The Beginning' is a song I wrote when I was 14 years old and had never experienced love, yet I was already inundated by all the typical tropes. Even back then I realized a happy ending was contingent on a healthy beginning. The video represents the healing power of being around friends after a break up."
After a run of critically acclaimed heavy rock and industrial-tinged records, the non-binary artist now transmutes his anxiety to alternately subdued and soaring alt-pop songs, as the Latin translation of the album's title, "anxious man," suggests. Recorded & produced by Hoost aka Justin Tailor (Rina Sawayama),
Shamir will be celebrating the album's release on August 18 at the new Knitting Factory at Baker Falls in NYC + more US, UK and
Europe shows here + below.
By shifting workflow, gaze, and attitude,
Shamir has created a sincerely familiar yet instantly outstanding album in Homo Anxietatem. Meanwhile, never has this stunning music sounded so effortless. That could owe to the Philadelphia-based artist's unshakeable work ethic. For a 28 year-old, Shamir's amassed a huge amount of savvy, as well as a devoted following - appearing in series like Dear White People and Tuca & Bertie, publishing the book But I'm a Painter, creating his own record label Accidental Popstar Records, playing shows with Le Tigre, Courtney Barnet, Troye Sivan, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, collaborating with Rina Sawayama,
Mac DeMarco and many more.
Shamir's art is a synthesis of the full spectrum of human emotion; sensual, furious, yearning, joyful and yet tethered together by a very distinct style (similarly to the greats such as Miss Nina Simone,
Prince and Taylor Swift). He's always had a way of turning the mundane into the magical. On this new album, lines that could feel tossed off in the hands of a more careless songwriter become precious morsels in the hands of
Shamir - he never takes himself too seriously. Yet nothing is taken for granted; there are moments of pure joy and plenty of surprises throughout.
However, as always, there's sadness, darkness, and - in this case - an actual confrontation with the devil. "Not as sweet as I might seem,"
Shamir confesses on "Crime." "No interest in searching for meaning,"
Shamir ends the appropriately titled "Calloused." This is what happens when one of the most prolific songwriters of a generation calms down a bit: the search for meaning becomes meaningless. What happens when someone who lives a chronically unstable life finds solid ground?
And that meeting with the devil? Perhaps the biggest surprise is album closer, "The Devil Said the Blues is All I Know." The title should give an idea of its sound: a single take of slide guitar and voice. As the song fades out, a celebratory hoot can be heard. Maybe it's a celebration for a great take, or maybe simply that another album is finished. Given Shamir's breakneck working speed, it can be easy to overlook something in his oeuvre. Among a catalog of standouts, this one shines as its own.
What Press Said:
"Shamir's falsetto is simultaneously piercing and doleful" - New York Times
"A testament to their unwavering skill at song-craft" - Billboard
"Homo Anxietatem sees the genre-shifting
Shamir dip into alternative pop" - Consequence
"Gleaming lead single 'Oversized Sweater'" - Stereogum
"Bringing big 90s vibes to the table - angsty, heart-wrenching acoustic guitar and headroom strumming" - Top40-Charts.com
"Shamir's songwriting is loud and buoyant, displaying a full array of human emotions" - Under The Radar
"A testament to their tireless work ethic and industry savvy" - Paste
"'Oversized Sweater' has heavy Lilith Fair vibes, sounding a bit like
Taylor Swift if she wrote bedroom dream pop." - them.
"Always prolific" - SPIN
