Minnesota-based High Brow and the Shades defy easy categorization. Brimming with enough musical creativity to splinter into several other bands, the group manages to contain its stylistic eclecticism into a cohesive unit.
On their new album, "Dancin' Shoes," High Brow and the Shades are in perfect balance; the band's electrifying chemistry unites their collective musical inspirations and lyrical observations with charm, sly humor, and youthful exuberance. The key track here is "Recession Depression Blues," which gleefully skews both political parties in America with a freshly forked tongue. True, there is not a mean-spirited line in the song but that doesn't mean it can't bite like an irritated pitbull.
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The group touches upon various genres - Latin, funk, rock, and jazz - and unites them all without throwing the listener out of orbit. Guitarist Ray Evangelista, bassist Mark Stevens, drummer James Gutzman, saxophonists Greg Keel and Layne Bender, and trumpeter Peter Davis produce a big, always infectious sound. Cuts like "Heartbeats and Imagination" keep the feet moving when the dancin' shoes are put away for the evening.
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