Dralms - Shook [Full Time Hobby Promo]

Released in early October via the always thrilling Full Time Hobby-imprint is Dralms' debut album "Shook" which is highly recommended to all lovers of intimate and fragile IndieFolk blessed with all timeless qualities one could ever wish for. The Canadian band fronted by singer Christopher Smith serves a well-balanced, yet sparse and transparent instrumentation consisting of  tender, crystalline synth melodies, minimal drumming and Mr. Smiths trademark voice as well as decent, masterly crafted electronics - especially to be found in songs like "Domino House" or the deep turns into spaced out and krauty slow jam "Divisions Of Labour" - which fall into place perfectly and come to life as sweet and lovely, not necessarily obvious earworms that make your head nod for plenty of reasons. Especially the previously released single "Pillars & Pyre" ,  the opener "Usage" as well as the albums title track "Shook" stick out  amongst a many extrordinary songs on this ten track album which easily could double its total play time of approx. 37 minutes without getting tiring at all. Referring to the first half of "My Heart Is In The Right Place" we see Dralms even introduce some dark'ish PostPunk-flavored vibes to their musical spectrum before progressing into synthed out SpacePop, "Objects Of Affections" fools around with 80s bedroom sax cliches and comes up with a surprisingly amazing result regarding to the damage that has been done to the use and abuse of this specific instrument in the past and the raw, melancholia and somehow Portishead-reminiscent bassline of "Wholly Present" clearly has got the vintage blues - a perfect song to listen to whilst sipping on rye and deeply think about the worlds musings. More melancholia but also a little bit of kitsch comes into play in the second to last song "Gang Of Pricks" whilst the concluding song "Crushed Pleats" is another secret gem for all those who love their Indie and Folk stuff right. Absolutely beauteous!