The Shilohs

The Shilohs - "S/T"

Name-checked by Real Estate and the earlier mentioned Fresh & Onlys, The Shilohs made a powerful statement with their latest effort, but in a gentle way. Sometimes it's as simple as a song and a guitar, and when a band possesses the talent that The Shilohs have, and an affinity for original Kinks hits, the result can be a warm success.

Featured track: "Student Of Nature" - Huffington Post

Vancouver band The Shilohs make classic guitar pop. Beatlesque is an overused term but there are some clear nods to John, Paul and, especially, George on their new self-titled album which came out last month via Light Organ. While influences may be on their sleeves, The Shilohs are good songwriters with excellent taste. If you have any affinity for this kind of stuff, The Shilohs do it well. You can stream the whole album in this post, and we're also premiering the video for opening track "Student of Nature" which you can watch below.

The Shilohs have previously toured with Real Estate and they're getting ready to hit the road with The Fresh & Onlys, including a NYC stop at Glasslands on July 23. Christines are also on that bill and tickets for that show are still available. All tour dates are listed below.
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The Shilohs - 2014 Tour Dates

July 10 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios

July 11 Vancouver, BC - Electric Owl

July 12 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey

July 15 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock

July 16 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle

July 17 Detroit, MI - The Loving Touch

July 18 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern

July 19 Montreal, QC - La Vitrola

July 20 Burlington VT - Monkey House

July 21 Boston, MA - Great Scott

July 22 Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle

July 23 Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands

July 24 Washington, DC - DC9

July 25 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506

July 26 Atlanta, GA - 529

July 28 St. Louis, MO - The Demo

July 29 Kansas City, MO - Czar Bar

July 31 Denver, CO - Hi Dive

all dates w/ The Fresh & Onlys - Brooklyn Vegan

It's time for the Friday Download! Here are some of my favorite tunes, videos and posts from across the internet this week. (And a little Spotify pop music playlist I snuck in.) —Katie


The Shilohs - The Shilohs

The Shilohs released a full-length self-titled album this week and after hearing multiple people mention how good it was over the past few days, I figured I should probably listen to it ASAP and guess what? I'm glad that I did, because it's the perfect summer record. Between this and Spotify's TEEN PARTY playlist, I am alllllll set for the warm weather. (Top photo via Bandcamp) - Urban Outfitters Blog

It's time for my weekly roundup of songs 'n' bands that have tickled my ears all week. Hope you find something you like, and feel free to shoot me any recommendations!

10. Palm Readers, The Shilohs. You know I love the jangle, and this delightful Vancouver band has it in spades. Look for its self-titled sophomore album May 13. - USA Today

Premiere: The Shilohs’ Self-Titled Album Stream
Album Due Out May 13 on Light Organ Records

Close out your day with a listen to The Shilohs’ new self-titled album, due out May 13 on Light Organ Records. The Vancover rockers’ vibe is tough to describe, but band member Daniel Colussi comes close.

“Our new album is the sound of four guys, three songwriters,” he says, “trying to exorcise the ghosts of Glen Campbell, Lou Reed and Paul McCartney...with some backbeat.” - Under the Radar Magazine

MP3 STREAM:

On October 9, New Images-- the label run by Real Estate/Ducktails member Matt Mondanile-- will put out a new 7" from Vancouver easy rockers the Shilohs, "Private Lives" b/w "English Roads" (Light Organ is co-releasing it). Here's the A-side.

The Shilohs: "Private Lives" (via SoundCloud) - Pitchfork

Vancouver band's debut, 'So Wild,' arrives this week via Light Organ

Love-struck Vancouver foursome the Shilohs aren't afraid to bare their hearts, as evidenced by "The Place Where Nobody Knows I Go," a strummer from their just released full-length debut, So Wild. In the accompanying video, the Canadian crew trails their cigarette-smoking, wig-wearing crush while she hangs out in cemeteries, plays arcade games, and jumps on motel beds. It's a delicious bit of Big Star-informed, Feelies-indebted pop whose visual companion is as strangely twee as it's central refrain: "Girl, I want to take you there / But there's just no room or time to spare / In the place where nobody knows where I go." - SPIN

INDIE
SO WILD
The Shilohs
(Light Organ)
**** (out of five)

It’s easy to see where Vancouver’s The Shilohs get their inspiration: In the music of Van Dyke Parks, The Byrds and The Beatles. Filled with jangly pop that points its compass straight to the retro North, So Wild sounds like a sunny morning and a spot of tea. Cue Sister Rose, with its mellotron splashes and big round bass, or the Dylan/Band-esque Man Of The Times, with its rolling piano notes, for an instant trip down memory lane. So Wild isn’t just a tribute to its obvious influences. The Shilohs, who have been working on the album since 2010, fully channel their source material and re-package it with mesmerizing style. TV Action Jazz, with its hints of psychedelia, is dark and intoxicating, while LA boasts a shimmering country jangle. Little Valentine sounds like a freshly unearthed Rubber Soul castoff, and Airliner Man blends Harrison’s Taxman and Lennon’s The Ballad of John and Yoko. Produced by Dave Carswell, So Wild is more than the sum of its parts: It’s a golden pop-rock nugget. - The Vancouver Sun

By Gregory Adams

While a recent teaser video for Vancouver pop-rock quartet the Shilohs’ self-titled album was made to promote the platter, there’s more on display in the online clip than just new music.

Featuring shots of the foursome smiling during pool-hall antics at Main Street’s Guys and Dolls, “Sisters of Blue” is a tear-jerking sermon on romantic futility built around chiming guitars and soft-touch drums. Guitarist Mike Komaszczuk and drummer Ben Frey reveal that touring allows for a lot of practice time at the tables. That said, while the former quickly sinks crimson orbs into leather-lined pockets, the clip also shows the outfit’s skinsman performing a stupendous scratch.

“I just don’t care about playing pool too much,” Frey says with a laugh of his showcased flub, but the bearded backbeat of the band is quick to note the camera merely caught an off night. “For the record, it was a snooker game in the video. It’s a bigger table and a different game altogether; that was the first time I had ever played.”

As talk drifts from pool sharks to the new LP over coffees at a refurbished Gastown eatery, the pair explain that other skills refined on the road include shaping the Shilohs songbook. Following the release of last year’s So Wild, the sophomore record’s material was tested in clubs and bars across the country, often evolving before being tracked back at home with producer Dave Carswell.

“ ‘Ordinary People’ used to be slow and long-winded,” Komaszczuk explains of a brisk and dusty, Byrds-esque strummer that underwent a major transformation after underperforming on tour. “I guess when you play a song to people who don’t care about you, you realize the weak points of your songs. I came home from that and rewrote a faster version, and cut half the words out.”

Sharing songwriting duties with guitarist Johnny Payne and bassist Daniel Colussi, the axeman notes that he put a deeper focus on writing lyrics for his own tracks this time around. “Ordinary People” had him seriously contemplating the concept of financial failure (“So you sold the house with the French doors and awning/All because the bailiff was calling”) and family ties.

“You get to a certain point where you realize you really are on your own,” Komaszczuk explains of the theme. “Your parents aren’t going to bail you out anymore. You’ve got to tough it out. This is kind of weird, but you know the recession in ’08? My parents lost pretty much everything.”

He continues, “I don’t know how well off your parents are; my parents never gave me anything. I realized they are worse off than I am. I have more money than they do now. If anything bad happens to me, I don’t have any fallback.”

The heaviness of the album doesn’t only hit at the pocketbook, with both Payne and Colussi offering up their fair share of heartbreak. Stringing together Stones-style blues licks with Real Estate’s modern-day jangle, “Champagne Days” has the latter simultaneously lamenting how a precious pearl slipped through his fingers and praying that better days are on their way. Payne’s “Bless Those Boys”, meanwhile, is a damaged foray into Fab Four balladeering, mixing weeping strings and spacious piano-plunking as the songwriter spits venom over the schemes of “beautiful strangers”. Bitterly, he steeps the final moments of his track in a damning “Girls will trap and abuse you/They’ll love you, confuse you.”

Frey didn’t have a hand in the lyrics, but he notes that a series of life changes that transpired between So Wild and The Shilohs, romantic or not, likely left an imprint on the new songs.

“It was a funny time, definitely. There were transitions in all of our lives over the last year, which makes for great songwriting,” the percussionist allows. “Some darkness probably came out from that, or at least a little more self-reflection.”

In addition to personal truths, the songwriters offer up a varied batch of songs. Komaszczuk’s “Palm Readers” kicks up a dust storm with a canyon-deep arsenal of licks, while Payne’s “Strange Connection” jumps from a low-key bounce into a fired-up psych-pop stomp. Their approach to bringing guests onto recordings also differs, apparently, with Komaszczuk noting Payne’s “Bless Those Boys” featured more guidance on its symphonic string work than what he suggested violinist Adrienne Labelle contribute to breezy album closer “Days of Wine”.

Komaszczuk explains, “Johnny got a quartet and did more of a Brian Wilson thing and directed them. My song, I said, ‘I’m going to give you a lot of money, but I’m not going to tell you what to do. So you better do something cool, or else I won’t pay you.’ ” While Frey begins to crack up from across the table over Komaszczuk’s hard-assed direction style, the guitarist cops to not being that critical with the core of the Shilohs. It’s this free and eclectic artistic environment, after all, that’s let the band get this far in the first place.

“We’re too nice to tell each other what to play,” Komaszczuk says. “There’s no mandate that every song has to sound the same. Some bands, their whole set is very cohesive; they have a sound. I don’t think we’ll ever do that. I’d quit.”

The Shilohs’ self-titled album hits stores on Tuesday (May 13). - Georgia Straight