The Shys
You'll Never Understand This Band The Way That I Do

Release Date: Jul 22, 2008

Second albums are a tricky thing. How do you challenge yourself as an artist without alienating your fan base (assuming you're not just looking for a paycheck)? The Shys are clearly exploring new avenues on You'll Never Understand This Band The Way That I Do, their sophomore release for Sire Records. Whereas 2006's Astoria was a full-throttle dose of bombast and sweaty grooves ala The Stooges, this album takes the testosterone down a few pegs and focuses more on songwriting. It lacks the firepower of Astoria, but there are some cool things going on in terms of stylistic shifts and dynamics. The Shys incorporate country, blues, classical and a healthy dose of new instrumentation. The result is not totally cohesive, but it's refreshing to hear a band taking some chances.

This Band kicks off with the three and a half-minute instrumental "Spanish Village By The Sea". Angular guitar stabs intertwine with maudlin piano and lilting violins, giving you an idea of what it might sound like if Ennio Morricone jammed with The Kinks. The track demonstrates impressive range and arranging chops, but it's a bit long, and it would be better utilized elsewhere on the album. Give them props for chutzpah, as the move would seem to lead to confusion for a listener expecting a wall of guitars.

The Shys quickly bring the guitars with "The Hangman", which features some ripping slide (the bluesy swagger and Hammond B-3 bring The Faces to mind). On this song and the two that follow ("The Savior" and "She's Already Gone"), The Shys display a gift for big choruses, and they borrow some clever tricks from the classic rock canon. "The Savior's" stutter-step ¾ verse slyly transitions into the Lennonesque chorus, and "She's Already Gone" boasts an inspired group chorus ala Dylan's "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35".

Despite their precocious abilities for spinning fresh takes on the masters, the next few tunes—"Mercy" and "Brother Please"—fall victim to hackneyed blues clichés. The lyrics depicting souls in search of redemption come off as trite in the hands of such a young band ("shake, shake, shake these blues away from me"). The Shys pull the wounded animal approach off much more effectively on the slow, insistent "Find Some Courage". The ultra fuzzed-out "Sympathy for the Devil"-like guitar stabs add a proper dose of menace on the outro.

The tempo picks up on the back end of the album. The emotionally charged "All on Me" sounds a little like early Elvis Costello, while the latin-flavored "Carry on for Two" wouldn't seem totally out of place on a Wilco album. Keyboardist Riley Stephenson shows off some killer classical and vaudeville skills on the jaunty "Love is Gonna Get You".

Despite some lyrical missteps here and there, The Shys display some canny musicianship and an unwillingness to rest on their laurels. Today's young bands don't have the luxury of going off on artistic tangents early in a career, but these guys make a strong effort not to be pigeonholed as simply another revisionist rock band in a brave second effort.