Shapes and Sizes has been compared to bands like The Fiery Furnaces, for their shape-shifting style(not to claim that Furnaces and Shapes have a similar sound). Since Shapes is difficult to genre-tag, the listener might find it easier to discover comparable styles tucked away in particular tracks. This freak-folk fringe chameleon continues to snatch new sounds out of mid-air with its projectile tongue. But this is not a one songwriter band.
...there's three people writing songs for the band. I think that it makes the band's sound a little harder to pin down than some. I guess the challenges for the band might be different. When some bands are trying hard to make the songs sound varied from each other, we're often trying to make the songs sound more cohesive.- Nathan Gage, 5/25/07
The first track of their first, self-titled LP, Island's Gone Bad, is a two-act example of the group's genre-jumping potential. In the middle of the track, a new drum rhythm starts, which could be taken as the beginning of a new song. Lyrically, in a sense, the whole song seems to be an analogy, with modern society lapsing into Lord of the Flies-style cannibalism. Also, there is a character in the novel - nicknamed Piggy, which happens to be the title of a track on their new LP.
mp3 @ sxsw (island's gone bad - shapes and sizes)
Shape's sophomore Split Lips, Winning Hips, a Shiner continues to establish their reputation for convention cracking compositions.
The two tracks - Alone/Alive and Teller/Seller - each have a forward slash in their title. Coincidentally, one of Nathan Gage's favorite bands is the avant-garde Akron/Family.
profile @ myspace
mp3 @ recidivism (head movin' - shapes and sizes)
mp3 @ asthmatickitty (alone/alive - shapes and sizes)
mp3 @ teamclermont (teller/seller - shapes and sizes)
mp3 @ greenclothesmusic (piggy - shapes and sizes)
feed @ hypem
video @ youtube (piggy - shapes and sizes)
video @ youtube (teller/seller - shapes and sizes)
review @ pitchforkmedia
interview @ stagehymns
home page @ shapesandsizes
label @ asthmatickitty
