Following up on their career highlight, 2018’s Onion, Shannon & The Clams once again teamed up with Dan Auerbach who produced and plays on Year of the Spider. If things aren’t broke, don’t fix them, as the band’s quirky take on surf rock, doo-wop, twisted soul, freak folk, and poppy punk all remain intact.
The quartet of Shannon Shaw on bass and vocals, Cody Blanchard on guitar and vocals, Nate Mahan on drums, and Will Sprott on keyboards play around with all of these genres while tweaking things enough to remain aloof yet catchy at the same time. The biggest noticeable change from the band this album is the increase of lead vocals from Blanchard who displays a falsetto (and more) on half of the twelve tracks.
Thematically there is a sense of loss and longing throughout but that pain becomes especially ominous on a few numbers. The acoustic guitar/buzzing keyboard combo “Snake Crawl”, the body bag watching, heart aching “In the Hills, in the Pines” and the haunting, banging duet “Midnight Wine” which features Auerbach on guitar all resonate with suffering. Blanchard has mentioned writing more songs regarding losing friends and artists to drug use and that hurt/senseless loss seeps through.
However, the band’s old school supercharged Ronettes-inspired retro rock style is still kicking, delivering three of the highlight tracks on the album. Huge drums and Shaw’s vocals (along with a kicking finale) propel “Mary, Don’t Go” while the galloping “Leaves Fall Again” recalls “I Leave Again” from Onion with a little more oomph and cracking whip. The title track just may be the best of the bunch with its warbling punchy, hip-swinging delivery, as Shaw gets raw while Blanchard soars.
Blanchard expertly goes falsetto via a fuzzy disco beat in the Bee Gees-inspired “All of My Cryin’” before recalling mid 60’s folk-rock in Zombies fashion for the sweet “Flowers Will Return”. The album is bookended by two dramatic Shaw lead offerings as closer “Vanishing” delivers the torch song blues and opener “Do I Wanna Stay” goes over the top with layers of strings and dramatic keys; if you ever wanted to know what the band would do for a James Bond theme song, this is it.
The group has been around for a long time, having polished up their DIY Oakland art-punk sound to larger, more sonically expansive playing fields with glorious success over their last two releases. Year of the Spider continues Shannon & The Clams run of catchy, quirky offerings while dealing with the pain and loss that is everywhere.
