This is one of those artists where I was 100% lured in by the hype surrounding him, and the album cover for this, Shamir’s debut album, Ratchet. Something about that cover just spoke to me straight away, and really I judged the book by its cover without hearing a single note of his music. Apparently the hype in the music media was building for some time and it completely slipped my radar. Maybe that made this all the more exciting of an album when I finally got around to hearing it. Shamir started recording when he was late in his teens, initially dabbling in country music, but transitioning to what many would call “left-field electronic pop music”. It’s a good genre name because as pop and radio-friendly as these songs are, or should be, their’s something really off-kilter about them that make them incredibly exciting and infectious to listen to. Mixed with his vocals, a beautiful, confident delivery reminiscent of Michael Jackson that seems to perfectly reflect the unabashed flamboyance of Shamir’s well-adjusted yet fragile upbringing in a Las Vegas suburb, the City of North Las Vegas, this album is just REFRESHING on so many levels. The opening track, ‘Vegas’, sets you up for his sound, with beats that sound like the neon lights of Sin City cracking on to light up the night sky in all their promise, while lyrics float above about the despair of the city that promises so much yet delivers so little. After you get an understanding of his sound, he takes off with straight up pop tracks that bounce endlessly, from ‘Call It Off’ to the lyrically gorgeous self-confidence of ‘On the Regular’. The entirety of Ratchet is not perfect. Tracks like ‘Hot Mess’ are just that. Maybe that’s extreme actually, there is an audience for that sort of cold repetitious dance tunes and for what it is, it IS good. Shamir’s vocals, as beautiful as I find them, and admittedly an acquired taste possibly, could use a little treatment in some places, especially when they ride just a bit too high over the music. But other than these small criticisms, this is just a really lovely record from a really lovely young talent. It’s a bright and sunny album, perfect for the hot summer months that followed this album’s release, and more than anything it feels like a positive rush of hope for what the future holds. In talent, promise, and in tolerance and acceptance. There’s something much deeper here below the pop surface of these tracks, which makes it such a unique and special release.

Label

XL Recordings