Conrad Shiner
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Conrad Shiner

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, United States | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2014
Solo Americana Singer/Songwriter

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Discover a little treasure called Conrad Shiner"

"Nostalgic and clean, sensitive and pure music... The Lost Decade is an album that sounds delicate and emotional, in a line of folk-rock similar to Ryan Adams , Neal Casal or Ray Lamontage..." - La Ruta Norteamericana


"Interview: Artist Spotlight November 2013"

"Describe your sound in one ramble on sentence: The nice thing about my sound is that it doesn't take a ramble-on to describe – it’s Rock and Roll – but given the implicit permission to elaborate, my sound is emotional, sung-from-the-gut Rock and Roll that you might hear being belted out from a dive bar on a back street in a strange, unfamiliar town on a warm night where it feels like anything is possible... " - Radio Airplay


"Conrad Shiner : Quiero que lo escuches"

"...Emotional, absorbent, powerful. Sung and played from the soul, emptied into twelve songs full of magic and intensity of feeling turned into a kind of exorcism of the heart that pushes you to want to hear again and again..." - Necesito Un Rock and Roll


"Conrad Shiner : The Lost Decade CD"

“The 12 tracks on the CD will put a smile on your face and more. I must admit, Conrad's voice reminds of Adam Duritz, which isn't a bad thing at all..." - The Indie Authority


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

Photos

Bio

This melody-driven debut album from songwriter-singer Conrad Shiner takes listeners on a folk-pop ride through timeless terrain, love lost and found, dreams abandoned and begun, whose rock-and-roll engine powers effortless transitions from words spoken close and tender to laments crowed loud and raw. The Lost Decade is, at heart, American Roots Rock. It's the story of becoming one's own man.

Conrad Shiner is a regular guy who's aware that most folks dont spend ten years writing songs at night and working in an office by day. And that tensionbetween the bare desire to make meaning and the nauseating suspicion that youre an absurd narcissistis the brave, delicate devil that makes this album simultaneously unsettling and familiar.

From the opening line of Present Day, in which, borrowing a line spoken by the drifter Jake in Carson McCullerss novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Shiner sings, I got the Gospel in me, and I need to tell someone, this regular guy goes out on a limb and dangles his heart off the end. Drawn in by his clean melodies, poppy undercurrents, and roots rock drive, you cant help but take him up on his dare: go ahead and let yourself be shamelessly wistful, too.

And what a ride hell take you on. The album is one long invitation: to empathize with the I in Shiners songs and to see yourself in that I. From the first track, Present Day, where he refers to the decades desire thats led him here, to the second, I Was Too Young, where he lays out his mistakes, saying, I didnt know better, and Im not the only one, Shiner digs into what it means to be human, caught between daily regrets tinged with humor and laughs laced with longing. And always, the music is there, not just behind the lyrics, but wrapped around it, sometimes overturning it, with its light, playful rhythms. Shiner even boyishly indulges, during I Was Too Young, in the proverbial rock-and-rollers shout, One, two, three, four!, revealing the joy you can feel even in the midst of recognizing youve done wrong. The joy of clarity, of being able to move forward.

And in the world of The Lost Decade, theres always a second chance. In The Other Side, Shiner uses harmonies and a subtle, nostalgic twang to convey what it feels like to be brave: All our fears are left on the ground as we reach for the other side Ill be there with open eyes on the other side. And you sense as he sings about the woman he loves that shes a real person as much as she is the music.

Second chances require reflection, thoughthe open eyes Shiner evokes. And hes not afraid to go back: reminiscing about the lovely futility of trying to recapture a feeling in Friendly Ghost, revisiting the hometown he left behind in Westinghouse, where he sings that some got out like refugees, living anywhere but here. The electric guitar comes forward here, giving voice to that pull toward a home youll never live in again. The one that will never stop calling you back.

Youd think that such a reflective album would veer into navel-gazing, but Shiner deftly takes you through the highs and lows, giving them equal weight. Ice Gas Beer is a hymn to every summer night you wish would never end, and Lemon Lime is the kind of song you want to play over and over again while you drive around endlessly, all the windows down. The kind you find yourself humming in the kitchen, trying to feel that feeling just one more time. Its always almost in reach. And all the places it came from are always on the verge of slipping away, as when Shiner laments in Friendly Ghost, Who will sing for me?

And in perhaps the most perfect ending ever, Shiner somehow combines the albums entire emotional and musical range in Cadillac. A journey in itself, and by far the longest song, Cadillac starts quietly, with a single breath, in and out. Then, just guitar and Shiners raspy, young voice, that hes not afraid to let warble and wander through the lyrics, under the music, in transitions sometimes awkward, but always real. I hold the taste of the air around you as long as I can". Then, a transition into drums, more guitar, a faster tempo, and his lament and urging: I know I havent tried very hard, but Im finally prepared Hurry, everything is burning down, all our places are burning down. His call from the first track to compose with the fire of a decades desire has now burst into flame, bringing the album full circle. And again, he invokes the tension between the real, when he sings, I know you exist, because I remember that night, honey-brown hair and thighs. But he always overturns the pop-song expectation, and we somehow know hes no longer talking about an actual woman, but rather the experience of loss: The air was like a drug, and you held me tight, but you were gone when I opened my eyes.

What a decade its been. Not lost at all, as it turns out. All right here.

Band Members