Shady Baby turns confusion and melancholia to a joyful burst of nervous energy and despair channeled directly into catharsis on its single “Come to Life.” The music has that kind of driving, angular, urgent quality akin to some of the more upbeat tracks from The Dandy Warhols’ 2000 album Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. Rosettes of guitar riff pausing before charging forward. Early in the song we hear about some of those half-measure attempts to stave off appearing human and denying one’s vulnerabilities without being aware that some of the aspects of our personalities suppressed are normal and that having normal feelings and being able to get hurt are not weaknesses unless you’re really dedicated to that premise as conditioned by society. Also to perhaps see that aspect of one’s psyche as a personal villain threatening to everything you hold dear. But the chorus of “I feel it coming, it’s the darkness I’ve been fighting come to life” points out how this nightmare of psychological reconciliation with one’s shadow side can feel like a welcoming and thrilling experience when you stop trying to resist your feelings and instincts and that welcoming them into a whole personality isn’t that scary and in fact expands how much of life you can experience and yes feel that the stoic block of conventional society, Western and non-Western, makes impossible until you ignore the repression and come into your full powers as a human. Listen to “Shady Baby” on Spotify.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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