San Francisco – Las Vegas native Shamir Bailey—known simply as Shamir—took appropriate time and care when constructing his debut LP Ratchet.  According to Urban Dictionary, ‘ratchet’ refers to a state of mind in which one exudes an illustrious diva persona, though often such entitlement is either misplaced or misguided.  When talking about Shamir’s debut LP, nothing could be farther from the truth.

I came under Shamir’s infectious spell during a free show on UC-Berkeley’s campus last month, having only heard a handful of songs, mostly from his 2014 EP Northtown—a snappy yet somewhat sonically limited five-track release—and the couple of singles he released in anticipation of the release of Ratchet.  During this particular show, Shamir—with his trademark naturalistic falsetto and thumping instrumentation—focused on showcasing yet-to-be released Ratchet tracks, of which the hungry crowd only knew one or two.  Still, every person at that show was bouncing uncontrollably to Shamir’s belligerently delightful dance beats, and even though much of the material was unknown to the majority of the show’s attendees, there wasn’t a still body anywhere.  Shamir has a knack for delivering a highly energetic set to a crowd, and his debut full-length studio effort exhibits no deviation from this trend.  This is music that people want to dance to; it’s music that is frilly and debauched in all the right places, and it reaches people.

The album opens with “Vegas,” a slinking, purposeful homage to his hometown of Las Vegas, and while most songs that use Las Vegas as its centerfold tend to lean towards the city’s more frivolous, fantastical nature, “Vegas” finds its strength in its control.  Shamir never falls in the trap of glitzing his hometown up, rather he attacks it from a more tame, almost robotic angle, his angelic voice clomping over bare-bones instrumentation and distorted vocal harmonics.  Listening to this opening track we get a sense of the mundaneness of Sin City that is often ignored or forgotten.

The following track, “Make A Scene,” amps up the volume and the boisterous nature felt by our faithful narrator, mixing cool collected lyricism with deliciously bent sine wave instrumentation, adding a pounding urgency that tickles the heels of the more jubilant nature this album is bound to achieve.  Lyrics like ‘stranger kisses and pixie dust’ aid in painting a fantastical portrait of explored surrender, in which Shamir welcomes us into a brightly colored world of panoramic ecstasy and dutiful celebration, yet it is reserved enough in its execution that one still feels they can relate to the singer without having to go overboard in matching his whimsical nature.

The next two tracks—“On The Regular” and “Call It Off”—are perhaps the two most well-known tracks from the album, as both have served as singles and/or videos used as selling points for Ratchet.  “On The Regular”—a hyped-up, semi-rapped tune was released late in 2014, and was used in a television commercial for Android phones.  The song’s lyrics are rapidly delivered, and are meant to question common modern standards that dictate masculinity, and Shamir does an excellent job calling out his critics—those who have criticized his high voice as a hindrance to his male identity—within the song’s several verses.  “Call It Off,” while less defensive thematically, perfectly exhibits insecurities many of us feel when in the throes of a difficult relationship, and does so with assertive, blasting synths and commendable lyrical tenacity (the video is pretty special too).

The rest of Ratchet seems to hit on a few more personal matters, including “Hot Mess,” which is a term that is often thrown around these days.  Generally calling someone a ‘hot mess’ can be a double-edged sword: there are those who take offense to such a label and there are those who wear such a distinction as a badge of honor.  Shamir seems to gladly align himself with the latter path, recognizing his own semi-destructive behavior, thus reclaiming the term in an effort to dispel any negative connotations while healthily addressing his own imperfections.

There are a few slower, more pensive tracks on the back end of Ratchet—namely the lovelorn “Demon” and the careful, introspective  “Darker”—Shamir keeps his flair for the energetic alive for much of the album.  “In For The Kill” is saucy and lush, basking in hopscotch drum beats and lively sampled brass.  “Youth” is breezy and fresh, boasting playful melodies and meticulously clipped vocals.  Album closer “Head in the Clouds” makes appropriately measured use of analog percussion—like tambourine and cowbell—while diligently offsetting the more organic sounds with crisp synths and, of course, Shamir’s signature saccharin vocals.  It’s a great album-ender: it’s brisk and energetic, goals seem to have been met, and yet it leaves the listener with an uneasy feeling of ‘…and then?’

Shamir is seven years younger than I, which is both admirable and unsettling.  I guess I’m getting to an age where those who are coming on to the music scene are going to just get younger and younger.  But that’s OK.  It’s more than OK.  The voice of the younger generation is what is going to carry us into the future.  Shamir’s voice is fearless, resilient, and joyous.  Seeing such a young talent illustrate such artistry this early in the game is so heartening.  It’s people like him that make this job so rewarding.  I think we can expect great things from him in the years to come.

Shamir will be touring in Europe and North America through the summer.  Ratchet is available on XL Recordings on May 19^th.  For more information, visit his Facebook page.

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Corey Bell

Corey Bell is no stranger to music.Having spent the better part of the past decade at concerts and music festivals around the globe, he finds he is most at home in the company of live music.Originally a native of New England, he has since taken residence in New York and New Orleans, and now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.He achieved his Bachelor of Arts from Goddard College in Vermont via an undergraduate study entitled “Sonic Highways: Musical Immersion on the Roads of America," in which he explores the interactions between music, natural environment, and emotion while travelling along the scenic byways and highways of the United States.His graduate thesis, “Eighty Thousand’s Company,” features essays regarding the historical and socio-economic facets of contemporary festival culture intertwined with personal narrative stories of his experiences thereof.He is the former editor of Art Nouveau Magazine and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from California College of the Arts.

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