Shannon and the Clams – Sleep Talk

Hunx and his Punx recently traded in the Punx for the Punkettes who include bassist Shannon Shaw, the lead singer of Oakland’s Shannon and the Clams. The band enters the spotlight with their excellent sophomore album in the congested genre of lo-fi/garage/punk/surf/rock revival. And while groups like the Vivian Girls continually release notable albums, including this year’s Share The Joy, the Clams come as a breath of fresh air (especially after the Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast put out kind of underwhelming albums despite crazy hype). At its core, Sleep Talk is a doo-wop cacophony that jumps from distorted jingles (“Sleep Talk”) to broken-hearted ballads (“Tired of Being Bad”), but the album really shines when Shannon unleashes her brash vocals and the Clams follow with their crunchy guitars and booming drums on “King of the Sea” and ”Toxic Revenge.” The beauty of the recent influx of revival bands is the fluidity among its members. While the genre’s hub bands are generally more well-known, their side projects like the Mayfair Set, Frankie Rose and the Outs, and, here, Shannon and the Clams become the gems that are proving their worth. Maybe I’ll start working on a garage revival Venn diagram to capture its incestuous behaviour… or maybe I’ll just go back to loving the hell out of this album. (1-2-3-4 Go! Records, www.shannonandtheclams.com) Andrew Mazurak