Shattercell

Last Week I made a decision to see as many free concerts as possible to open my eyes to new music and different things. The first band to be graced by my new vow is Shattercell. The are a local band to the Oshkosh area. They previously were in Seattle. I would classify the band as eletronic. They described themselves and advertised around campus as sounding like Radiohead or Coldplay. I would agree in the sense that they are electronic, but I was pleased not to hear a Radiohead or Coldplay rip-off. Shattercell's sound is unique and not quite as britpop as some electronic music tends to be. Shattercell hopes to get a chance to go to Europe, namely the UK, where electronic music is huge in the club scenes and all over the country.

I arrived at the concert about a half hour late and was skeptical walking toward the concert venue and hearing what sounded like bad television commercial music and a thunder storm. But I went and had a seat. The set up was really unique. Two people; a girl behind a huge keyboard (barely touching it except a few times to chance a beat here and there. ) and guy with nothing but a microphone. So my first impression was no band... no real instuments... basically just prerecorded melodies and beats and a lone vocalist.

It only took a few grooves into the first songs I heard for me to realize this was much more than just a beat machine and a singer. Someone spent alot of time recording all of the back up music and writing powerful songs.

The vocalist (Adam) was an energetic guy who talked between singing about different happenings, had people go to the front to do cartwheels, and let the audience listen to him drink water. I really appreciated that. A friendly front man is a must for any band and this guy took the cake. Adam was fun and funny, which seemed odd set against the somewhat somber music that they performed. Later, they also had some trippy handycam video piped onto the stage. You could tell that Adam really believed what he was singing. The emotion put into his performance was spectacular. All in all the stage presents was very good.

The music:
The music was quite impressive. The tracks were very well mixed and thought out and the mix wasn't just repeated through the whole song, which tends to be a problem with some electronic bands. I got a chance to talk to the girl (Shanna) behind the keyboard. "Adam can play everything you hear in real time, we've looked for other people to play the lines, but nobody can yet." I shouldn't compare bands, but I kept thinking in my head during the set the music sounded like something off of a Bjork album and the vocals sounded like Dave Matthews. So, if you can imagine those two things together you have a pretty good idea of what Shattercell sounds like. At first, I was ultimately unimpressed by the lyrics. They seemed repeated a bit much. I dismissed them all to fast. It was hard to understand what Adam was saying, due to his singing style; much like it is sometime hard to understand Thom Yorke or Billy Corgan. The lyrics are quite profound and important to any artist. Shanna added "The lyrics are our motivation to create music like this. That alone adds power to it."

Overall, I really enjoyed Shattercell's performance. I bought their album and cherish it. I think they are an amazing group and could very well end up becoming well known. If you are looking for a new group with a great sound. Check out Shattercell.

Listen: Shattercell - Start a War