Missed Album Review: Shy, Low – Babylonica

Style: Post-Metal, Post-Rock (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Lost in Kiev, God Is An Astronaut, If These Trees Could Talk
Country: Virginia, United States
Release date: 26 May, 2023

Since joining the blog, I haven’t gotten to write much about post-metal (and especially not in a positive context), which is a damn shame. In the absence of a uniquely standout instrumental post-rock or -metal release in 2023 (or the year prior, to be honest), I can at least take a little time to call attention to this strong EP from the punctuationally challenging band Shy, Low. I hope you’ll forgive my latency in doing so. In comparison to Snake Behind The Sun, their debut with Pelagic Records in 2021, this EP may not be quite so complex in composition and instrumentation, nor so progressive in its presentation, but the quality of musicianship remains undiminished.

Shy, Low fall pretty much exactly into the tonal sweet spot between post-rock and post-metal that I so love, with enough metal substance to their music that you won’t find yourself falling asleep in the first half of a song while waiting for the infamous crescendo to kick in, but also still holding on to that crystalline, echoey quality that exemplifies post-rock. The delicious, crunchy tone of the lower, more metal guitar parts offers a contrast against those light reverberations, surrounding and adorning them with delightfully bristly and fuzzy insulation. In the fusion of those two disciplines, Shy, Low achieve aesthetic harmony, an enticing and entrancing hybrid sound to satisfy the needs for both intensity and reflection. One minor potential criticism is that I can find little to distinguish between the two main tracks, “The Salix” and “Instinctual Estrangement.” Both are excellent, and their uniformity benefits the Babylonica’s cohesive feeling, but I can’t easily tell you what aspects each one excels at or which is the stronger piece. With only three tracks to begin with, the middle one being a much less substantial interlude, this leaves the EP feeling shorter than it is, even if that limited time gets spent efficiently on compelling music.

With post-rock, where emptiness and sparsity are sort of the end goal, it’s all too common for a track’s development to flounder and stagnate while keeping the audience waiting for the ultimate climax to hit. For Shy, Low, this is no issue: they easily sidestep such structural issues and direct the flow of energy within their compositions better than most bands I can think of, with never a dull moment nor a halt in their forward progression. Whether keeping quiet and subtle or bursting out into hefty, driving phrases, their music never stops feeling lively, while likewise not becoming overbearing. Babylonica also falls into that hallowed category of instrumental music that doesn’t just feel like the vocalist missed the studio dates and got left off the record. The equivalent primary melodies have instead been handed out to the lead guitar parts, supported by percussion working overtime to fill the background spaces in ways that are interesting in and of themselves.

Despite the short runtime, Babylonica packs itself with emotive moments, skillfully weaving the bleak yet expressive soundscapes of post-metal into memorable scenes that make the most of their brief time in the spotlight. I admit I felt some small disappointment at the EP not including any of the brass features which made Snake Behind The Sun feel so unique among post-metal albums. I should not have worried, as this follow-up nevertheless upholds Shy, Low’s legacy for expert blending of distinct post-whatever sensibilities into texturally pleasing instrumental music.

Recommended tracks: The ones that aren’t just an inscrutable set of geographic coordinates
You may also like: Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, Catacombe, Molecules to Minds, jeffk
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Pelagic Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook | YouTube

Shy, Low is:
– Dylan Partridge (drums)
– Gregg Peterson (guitars)
– Drew Storcks (bass)
– Zak Bryant (guitars)