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Nov 27, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Ginger Fierstein.

San Francisco-based indie rock outfit Little Shrine is set to return next week with their new album, Heart Instruction, releasing on December 6th. The band is the project of singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jade Shipman, alongside her collaborators, guitarist Tony Schoenberg and violinist Ryan Avery. Together, they dress Shipman’s plaintive and introspective lyrics with songwriting that veers between tender, propulsive, and charmingly catchy. They debuted in 2017 with their album Wilderness, followed by their 2020 album, The Good Thing About Time.

Ahead of the album’s release, Little Shrine have been steadily releasing a string of new singles this year, “The Other Side,” “Baby It’s You,” “Knives,” and “Take a Number.” Today, they’re sharing an accompanying video for “Take a Number,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Take a Number” opens the album on a dose of raucous garage rock, with Shipman delivering her vocals in a biting snarl, steeped in a barrelling rhythm section and wild guitar soloing. Yet, the band also tempers that edge with bright piano harmonies and catchy hooks, adding a playful undercurrent to all of its knotted garage rock distortion. The results feel joyous far more than they feel angry or bitter. Similarly, the accompanying video is a charming low-budget affair that Shipman imbues with plenty of attitude, driving along in a cardboard car and playing oversized cardboard instruments.

Shipman says of the track, “I wrote the song “Take a Number” when I *thought* I was in a good relationship. One day, he was slow to respond to a text, and the song popped out, along with all of this anger that I didn’t understand at the time. I think I even apologized to him, like, ‘I’m sorry, I swear I’m happy in our relationship!’ Fast forward a couple of months, and it turns out he was slow to respond to my text that day because he was spending time with another woman, even though we were exclusive. So, all that anger was entirely appropriate, as it turned out, I just didn’t know it yet when I wrote the song.

Recording ‘Take a Number’ was super enjoyable—I sang and played the drums and bass, and also added bright stabs on the piano. It’s a fun song to play because there’s nothing to hold back, it’s pretty full-on throughout. Then Tony Schoenberg came in on guitar and did some takes, but it felt like he was playing it a little safe, so producer Ben Bernstein and I asked him to let loose, and play what he’d play in maximum rock mode, and that’s the final take we used on the track.

Ryan Avery, our violin player, directed the video. He had this idea to create a cardboard world, with cardboard instruments and a cardboard car. To do it right, we knew, would require props. So we got together with my friend Arielle Crenshaw who is a visual artist, and she designed the instruments, which we then replicated in a variety of sizes. There was a lot of cardboard and paint involved, and a good number of hours working in Arielle’s garage, listening to music and talking.

Then, on day one of the shoot, I got to Ryan’s apartment in San Francisco, and the living room had been entirely transformed! From floor to ceiling, he had created this alternate universe of cardboard, down to cardboard clouds floating in the sky. I was so excited when I saw it. Then he got the fog machine going and cranked up the song. The shoot was a lot of fun, even though it was during a heatwave, so it was incredibly hot with all the lights going. It’s amazing to have multi-talented people like Ryan to collaborate with—he’s an awesome video director and an amazing violinist too.”

Check out the song and video below. Heart Instructions is out everywhere on December 6th.