Review: Shy Child – Liquid Love
Shy Child – Liquid Love (2010) [Wall of Sound] // Grade: C+
Before I argue that Shy Child’s latest feels glossed over and redundant, let’s pause to appreciate its little bit of charm: Liquid Love does a fine job of skittering between two disparate sorts of 80s schtick. Type A: JC Penney dressing room 80s. Back-to-school shopping in humid August with Hall & Oates and Phil Collins, Heart’s “These Dreams” and racks of neon bike shorts. Type B: Moroder 80s. Tron and Wendy Carlos 80s. Robots and dystopia and fast, futuristic cars. Hell, let’s even throw a little John Carpenter in there; a few moments of first single “Disconnected” (maybe the best track on the album) have a serious, if fleeting, Big Trouble In Little China vibe.
Still: Shy Child’s latest—a major POV shift from the duo’s hysterical, explosive dance on Noise Won’t Stop—feels glossed over and redundant. All the Wendy Carlos in the world can’t save Liquid Love from itself, because you know what? This market’s already been cornered. Pop-funk electro retro: we’re lousy with it. And it’s not just that Datarock and Junior Boys have already saturated (and perfected) a similar sort of situation; so many of the songs on Liquid Love fade and fizzle and fall asleep on themselves, it’s difficult not to walk away feeling just as overwhelmingly ambivalent.
The first half is better. “Take Us Apart” and its grumbling, propulsive bass. The title track’s Fleetwood Mac samples and a bunch of floaty, falsetto vocals that complement more often than they distract. “Criss Cross” goes full-on Moroder, and though it chugs through seven minutes when it could’ve ended at four, it’s a cool, crisp bright spot. But by the time we get to “The Beatles” and an almost shockingly lackluster “Depth of Feel”, Liquid Love‘s pretty much hit the hay. You can sense the energy (or at least sense that there’s supposed to be some), but actually feeling it? Not really. It’s a shame to feel so nothing about a band that previously inspired at least a little excitement—even if you hate Shy Child, you can’t deny their exuberance—but here we are. Give the first bits a spin, but the rest? Eh. Up to you.
