YEARN’s “Shapeshifter” feels like a breath of fresh, strange, beautiful air. “Shapeshifter” is a moving Piece of Music, not just in terms of genre or structure, but also emotionally. It feels alive and conveys more through images than through statements. And, arguably most important, it offers us a window onto a new chapter of Tahar’s creative evolution. At one time called Minke and a member of Seattle’s Day Soul Exquisite collective, she’s well on her way to creating her own, unique musical lane.
The Signals continue to elevate the quality of local Music with “Shapeshifter,” the stunning, sultry, and highly artistic new project from Lily Minke Tahar, born of vivid dreams and complex thoughts, yet realized in a way that’s somehow hard to categorize in a positive light. Written on the heels of death comes new life, with the appearance of YEARN’s latest album, following the release of its lead single, Music. And it’s that of a musician unafraid to leap into a fresh sonic realm.
“Shapeshifter” opens with an airy, minimalist groove and the tickling of plucked strings, leading you in with soft-spoken vocals that seem to be whispered from memory. Even as it builds, the song’s rich, widescreen chorus explodes with dozens of layers of sound that allude to Radiohead’s more soulful experiments. At the same time, its unexpected jazz underpinnings add a dreamy volatility to it.
At its midpoint, and again toward the end, “Shapeshifter” lives up to its name. A psychedelic break turns on savage throughout the mood, all dancing into a shimmering refrain that fires the ragingly soulful rock textures of everything that follows: into a piano solo and quiet-on-the-verse Weller-lockering spoken word coda whose patently barely-there intensity stretches the affective fabric of the album through some time beyond the point the needle hits the middle of side 2.
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