The sequel to 'Saltwater', 'Shakes' is the second collection of alcoholically poignant love songs from DAN MICHAELSON & THE COASTGUARDS. The one-time ABSENTEE vocalist and his men - Henry Spenner(drums), Laurie Earle(guitar/piano), Horse(pedal steel/guitar) along with Sanjay (bass), churn out their minimalist Mogadon/maritime melodies from the stern outwards. As 'virtually live' as you can get in a recording studio environment, the resulting 9-tracks deep-set in a 70% proof deep sea, there's a genuinely touching sense of sadness at the core of the finished article.
Smouldering opener 'All The Trying' is followed by the half-step suspense of the snarebrush breath-held ballad 'If Not For You'. Both songs set the tone and the focus for the rest of the album, as the microscope hovers over the minutest of details of imperfect/half-wrecked love: the concerns are mainly with barely noticeable knock-backs and tiny triumphs
“It's always a process of trying to externalise a load of jumbled internal nonsense” Michaelson explains:
“My main thoughts revolved around not over-egging the song/s – I just wanted to keep it simple, which turns out to be a complicated task”
The slightly distorted heavy-eyelid bass twang of 'Love Lends A Hand' will emerge as the first single release. Echoes of John Lennon reverberate loosely within this slightest of nods towards radio-playlist policy, and also through the schizophrenically-titled last-ditch relationship rescue of 'Something Awful/Dancing' that rears its head two songs later.
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Another highlight is the setlist fave, 'The Wait Is Over', a slightly rockabilly reverberator with a stomping middle eight-full of lap steel followed by a sublime drop-out.
Finale 'Dust' is propelled by the Coastguards' touring piano, saved from being thrown overboard a ship upon it's decomission (according to tradition). Says Michaelson: “It was the only sound I wanted to hear at the end of the record”.
The mini-epic is in itself a summing-up, and the keys are the epitome of melodic melancholy. It's a wistful conclusion to what stands as a thinking man's (or woman's) kind of record.
Michaelson's distinctive vocals, in nautical terms, are still more reminiscent of deep-sea divers than coastguards. Several fathoms further down than the average octave, the slow hazy style of his half-the-speed-of-ballad songwriting is the sound of larynx snagging on what could only be the coral at the very bottom of the ocean , yet shards of light here and there make parts of this record seem to be lit up by the sunset on the horizon.
Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards website
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