SHILPA RAY – The Rebel Nicolas Pelletier 2017/12/06 Albums (English), Genres (English) Shilpa Ray is a strange animal. Some folks classify her in “punk” but it’s not too much because her music but more for her rebel attitude. On her latest album, “Door Girl”, she does let out some character on a few songs but often plays the part of the retro girl. Morning Terrors Nights of Dread is a good example of this bipolar music style she embraces: a very doo wop gradually becomes a heavier as she lets go a few strong screams as only Nina Hagen could relate to. As “Door Girl” evolves, Shilpa Ray alternates between cool reggae (Add Value Add Time), fiery punk music (EMT Police and the Fire Department) and childhood-like ballads (After Hours). She leverages her melodic talent on songs that almost sound like pastiche of music from the 50s and 60s, like Rockaway Blues. What she is talking about is always punk, though, charged with emotion and protest. Her Wikipedia page unveils her background and path through earlier years of life: “A report in the San Francisco Examiner describes Ray’s New Jersey upbringing as an Indian American from an immigrant family as contributing to her having a “scrappy” demeanor. As a youth, she was mistaken for an Iraqi and “pelted with beer cans” by hooligans. She dealt with restrictive parents who banned Western-themed music and learned to play the harmonium and piano beginning at age six. In her high school years, she became a stealth Goth and listened to music by punk rock bands”. A first album was recorded in 2006 under the band name Beat the Devil, which mixed punk music with her Indian music heritage. Ray launched her band Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers in 2009, playing at SXSW in 2011. That same year, she took a break from the band to participate in Nick Cave’s world tour as a backup singer. He produced her first solo EP in 2013, “It’s All Self Fellatio, Shilpa Ray”. Her three latest albums came out under her own name, on the Northern Spy label. SHILPA RAY Door Girl (Northern Spy, 2017) -Genre: indie rock retro Buy the album on the band’s BandCamp page Follow the band via their Facebook page Listen to videos on the label’s YouTube channel Réagissez à cet article / Comment this article commentaires / comments
