Surface to Air Missive - Shelly's Gone Album Review

Shelly’s Gone is the fifth full length release from Florida-based Surface to Air Missive, the main project of Taylor Ross. This is my first time listening to the band, and the vocal style felt like a male blend of Mitski and Snail Mail, while being played over some Car Seat Headrest-esque music with a major progressive pop and folky twist. Overall the album has a warm, bright, and carefree sound that is sure to grow on you.

I say this because Shelly’s Gone admittedly did not interest me all that much on the first listen. Or the second. On the third I was kind of intrigued and had somewhat of a wanting to come back, and on round four I finally got into this album. I cannot quite pinpoint why though. Maybe it felt a bit generic? Or maybe it was the vocals? Either way, I guess is why this album deserves a few chances because it is far from generic, and if you are like myself, it might not fully reveal itself right away. As you continue to listen to the album the different layers unravel, and you really begin to appreciate how everything works well together (especially the vocals, which I was initially hesitant about).

The album kicks off with ‘Monster’s Mouth’, where we hear galloping jangly guitars, and Taylor singing somewhat optimistically “And I know this case ain’t hopeless / I can learn we can work it out / But there’s got to be some purpose / I ain’t bleeding just for fun”. We get a heavy dose of “dododoo doo doo doo dooo” on this track, which can often go either way, but I found myself humming along every time.

Next is ‘Easy Way’ which has some excellent guitar work and a wonderful little layering/chorus of vocals at the end singing “No, no I ain’t a kid no more” that immediately got stuck in my head. Later on in ‘Still’, there is a guitar and rhythm section that goes dunna dunna dun dun (you will know what I mean when you hear it), which is a slight break from the core of the song, but man is it good. While unanticipated, I was really into this section even on my first few listens of this album.

Speaking of unanticipated, ‘Swan’s Somme’ is something I 100% did not see coming. It is a weird little folkish song with a recorder(?) out front leading the way. Honestly feel like this could be played during some war memorial tribute, but it works.

The rest of the songs are fairly similar, but that is not a bad thing. They are a good mix of folk and jangle/progressive pop, and generally upbeat as most songs are hard to avoid nodding your head or tapping your foot along to. I often think of albums in terms of seasons, and this is another 2020 release that feels built for the summer. Shelly’s Gone is a solid release that I can see myself coming back to.

Favourite Tracks: Monster’s Mouth, Easy Way, Still, Trouble Is, Curse

Genres: #ProgressivePop, #IndieRock, #PsychedelicRock

Release Date: January 1, 2020