Shamir - Revelations

The Guardian 80

(Father/Daughter)

Things haven’t gone swimmingly for 22-year-old Shamir Bailey since he made a splash with his 2015 debut, Ratchet. The androgynous Las Vegan was dropped by his record label and hospitalised with mental-health issues. However, strife has produced a rebirth. The debut’s shimmering postmodern disco has been ditched for a lo-fi but somehow bigger sound, which mixes Pixies-type basslines and skyscraping, 60s girl-group pop. The countertenor sings with an emotional, otherworldly raw power, whether he is conducting an imaginary conversation with an industry exec who dumped him (Games) or beautifully musing on coping with stress and pressure (Cloudy). The ethereal Straight Boy extols “The pull of contradiction”, and if 90’s Kids’s defence of modern youth can feel a bit pat, his big heart’s in the right place. The fantastic Blooming’s Ronettes-meets-Ramones pop roars outsider defiance into what could be the album’s manifesto: “I’m too strong to just lay down and die.”

The Guardian 60

(Father/Daughter)

Last spring’s surprisingly lo-fi second album, Hope, found Las Vegas singer-songwriter Shamir Bailey pursuing a more serious sound. Where his 2015 debut Ratchet was all sugary electro bangers, his latest is minimalist, dissonant and raw. Stripped-down piano pop and romantic, Sixpence None the Richer-style guitars (sometimes quasi-country, at points almost grunge) underpin Shamir’s disarming, glimmering falsetto and his endearingly theatrical conceits (“I’m too strong to just lay down and die,” he sings on Blooming). A bold, fleeting pop-rock record whose standout element remains Bailey’s gorgeous voice.

Pitchfork 59

Shamir Bailey’s latest is a lo-fi set of interesting ideas that never quite gel. As ever, his soulful voice is the star, offering hints of sophistication and wonder.