Shy Boys
Bell House
Polyvinyl
Aug 08, 2018
Shy Boys
A press release dubs this Kansas City, MO quintet “The Beach Boys on Robitussin.” But you won’t need any syrup of ipecac listening to Bell House. The album’s 10 uninspired tracks will take care of it for you.
This inconsistently brewed blend of twee, indie, and quirk-rock is somewhat of a step back in time as most of the tracks are built on a stratum of ‘70s adult rock influences. Although short and quick-paced, the bare arrangements and mostly bland rhythms don’t have any quaint peculiarities to make them flavorful.
The puerile lyrics attempt to be topical and poignant but are mostly straightforward and dull and end up diluting what minimal appeal these tunes have to begin with. And while the subdued vocal harmonies are a minimal draw, they are often out of tune. In fact there’s no need to bother with this album unless you like harmless, predictable, and formulaic adult contemporary fluff-rock. (www.shyboys.bandcamp.com)
Author rating: 3/10
Average reader rating: 9/10
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August 23rd 2018
12:51am
You must take these reviews with a grain of salt. I have read gleaming reviews only to find not a single track on an album worth listening to. On the other hand, Shy Boys has some great songs on this album. I’m shocked that an “indie” site would give a band like this three stars. Although I have been disappointed by some reviews in which they rate an album too high, this is the most disappointing review I have read from them.