Monday 6/15: Shamir—"On My Own"
Today, we share our thoughts on "On My Own" by the Philly-based indie artist Shamir.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on "On My Own" by the Philly-based indie artist Shamir.
Shamir—“On My Own”
Eli Enis:
In 2015, a young artist named Shamir put out a flashy disco-pop record on a major label and quickly rose to semi-popstardom. In 2017, that same Shamir put out a very, very different record—lo-fi indie-rock, to put it simply—on the small indie label Father/Daughter Records, and he’s spent the last three years cranking out mini-albums that have more in common with shoegaze and punk than anything you’d hear on pop radio. “On My Own”, his new single and first from a forthcoming album, is the most playful and danceable track Shamir has released in half-a-decade, successfully finding the mid-point between his former life as a club soundtracker and his current as a guitar-wielder in our nation’s indie-rock epicenter. It feels like yet another new chapter for Shamir, and a promising one at that.
Eric Bennett:
After leaving indie behind when his hit debut single “On the Regular'' went commercial (literally) leaving him pigeonholed, uninspired, and trapped in an unsatisfying label situation, Shamir is back with his best work to date. He’s always been able to put every ounce of his personality into his music, and does so even more here. “On My Own” is a pulsating, instantly infectious song, his voice dripping with passion. A perfect balance between his jagged pop sensibilities and the emotional depth found in his country works, we’re finally seeing both facets fit together, not like puzzle pieces, but more like a collage. This is only our first taste of his next album, and if there is more material this good, some of the critical darlings sitting atop the year-end AOTY lists should be nervous.