Shaven Primates are a 5-piece dark-wave, art-rock, proto/post-punk band from Oxford, UK, formed in 2017, who aim to push the genre's boundaries. Their music is a story of human emotion and experience: fear, love, and fury reverberate through the orchestration, providing our listeners with a deeply emotional release.
They are inspired by the Velvet Underground, Kate Bush, Tool, Prodigy, Yes, Clash, Bowie, Porcupine Tree, and Pink Floyd, as well as their personal desire to create music that they enjoy.
The opener "Fade Away" starts with a hypnotic guitar riff and with some Pink Floyd atmospheres. I love the groove, the arrangement, and the general sound of the track, very well performed. I love the bass lines (great drumming as well) on "A decision", with a superb chorus, very epic and definitely one of my personal favourite moments of this EP, with a great guitar solo. The third track "Silicon Implants" is very different and almost Punk, reminding me of The Clash. The song is very enjoyable and energetic, with a superb solo section in the middle and a fantastic rhythm section in the final part of the song.
"Unmasked" is way more relaxed than the previous track and very atmospheric, but with a highly contagious chorus. Very well written and overall very interesting. The final track of the EP is the title track "Birds Aren't Real", again very different in the mood and, again, with a fantastic and very catchy chorus, that probably will get stuck in your head. I love also the riffs during the verses and the super energetic final part. This is a great song and the EP "Birds Aren't Real" is a super interesting work, amazingly performed and produced and with a lot of contamination. It's clear that the band listens to a lot of different genres and they mix everything amazingly. Super recommended!
Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and don't forget to follow Shaven Primates on social media as well.
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