LISTEN: Laika Songs Blends Palpable Longing With Off-kilter Pop On “Shaking”

Laika Songs is the Brooklyn-based project of songwriter Evan Brock, whose arrangements blur folk, Americana, and shimmering indie rock. His songs move at a deliberate, breath-like pace, unfolding with meditative patience before opening into widescreen clarity. A community effort from the start, Laika Songs has continued to evolve with contributions from members of Hand Habits, Father John Misty, Lucy Dacus, and Grumpy. Brock has carried the project to stages across the Northeast United States and on tour in Japan. His new album, I can feel an ending, pushes Laika Songs toward an even more reflective and quietly expansive sound.

“Shaking” is an early favorite from Brock’s latest LP under his Laika Songs moniker. The song’s inherent, pop-tinted whimsy leaps from the speakers with grace, wrapping the listener in a blanket of reassuring warmth, almost as if the artist were preparing us for the heaviness of the lyrics. Underneath the muted yet potent vocals and the dynamically pleasing arrangement, Brock is painting a heartbreaking portrait. The poetically vague lyrics detail the moment a high crashes, and reality comes flooding in as if the dams of your brain had finally cracked. “Shaking” asks if the trip up was really worth it, and battles with the blinding light of the truth. Brock’s new album cements a sound the artist can call their own, and “Shaking” highlights how this approach can morph into downtrodden, lo-fi balladry. 

“‘Shaking’ is about replaying a moment over and over, realizing it carried more weight than I understood at the time—like eyes jerking as they follow the repeating cars of a passing train,” says Brock.