Shayna Rain

On Shayna Rain’s new EP, the Vegas-based four-piece finds itself on new legs with smoky electro-pop at its foundation. A sharp turn from the outfit’s previously bluesy sound, Paper Flowers finds the group—no longer called Shayna Rain and the Part Time Models—at its most powerful and evocative yet.

Singer Shayna Mercer’s sentimental perspective serves as the focal point, with her frosty vocals front and center on the four-song EP. And while the new direction feels organic, Shayna Rain’s new sound was born partly of necessity. “[Bassist] Nick [Boswell] was on tour, and we had to do a benefit show,” Mercer says. [Drummer and producer Steven] Zeller has a project called Dawnr, and he makes electronic music. I have a bunch of solo stuff, so he [was] like, ‘Why don’t we just try to put electronic stuff to your solo stuff?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve always wanted to do this.’”

Written and recorded at Naked City Audio over four months, the EP shows a new level of connectedness within the band. Between Zeller’s downtempo electronics and Mercer’s opaque musings on passion, love and loss, Shayna Rain gradually bares its teeth. From featherlight opener “Hope” to the Warpaint-esque “Before My Body,” Paper Flowers is intricate and powerfully relatable.

It also has a dynamic visual component. “We’re really focusing a lot on art and making sure we don’t neglect that,” Mercer says, who enlisted four local artists—Victoria Fong, Albert Montoya, Alex Hobbs and Auberi Zwickel—to create posters, each a companion to a song on the EP. Look for limited-edition packs at the September 21 Bunkhouse release show.
-Leslie Venture - Las Vegas Weekly

Despite all the research out there that tries to prove otherwise, humans are not complicated creatures. Sure, the motivations for our desires and reasons for our fears differ among each person, but those desires and fears at their core remain essentially the same. We want to feel safe. We want to feel loved. We want to feel accepted. We’re scared of pain. We’re scared of the unknown that death brings. We’re scared of waking up one day and realizing we’re alone.

These are the vulnerable thoughts that fill our mind and, since it’s inception, music has been the soundtrack to these beliefs. Name me one song that doesn’t, in some capacity, try to explain or explore one of these fears and desires. It’s almost impossible. I mean maybe Sisqo’s “Thong Song,” but even in that you could argue that Sisqo really just wanted some love and, specifically, from someone in a thong.

Yet songs that so beautifully touch on these ideologies in a way that’s both profound but relatable are few and far between. Shayna Rain’s “You’ll Never Leave” is one of these rarities. The track (which is recorded with Rain’s band Shayna Rain and the Part-Time Models) features waves of percussion, sparse guitars, and Rain’s emotive, rich vocals.

Listen to it below.
shaynarain.bandcamp.com

-Katie Kelly - Pigeons and Planes