SHARK-FIN AWARDS

With pulsating melodic ribbonry to lead the way, “The Distance Between Us,” the first song in SoloS’ new self-titled EP, starts to wrap its slender hook around us with a relaxed ease. These first couple of bars are more than enough to lull listeners into a false sense of security …

A gentle vocal utters sweet French verses to us against a slowly blossoming melody from a nearby guitar, its strings easily as evocative as any single lyric ever could be – if not a bit more so, when it counts the most – as the elegant “Roses De Picardie” begins …

In the original incarnation of AV Super Sunshine’s “Smile,” which was first released back in 2016 on the Bass Face EP, an acoustic guitar provides a near-perfect foundational melody for the acclaimed AV to weave together a soft but brooding lead vocal, and though its strings play a smaller role in “Smile …

American folk music has never been as diverse a genre as it is today, and that’s more than obvious even when engaging in a cursory listening session with Haley Johnsen’s London Sessions (Live From Abbey Road, 2020). Johnsen, a product of the Oregon underground, isn’t content to rehash the same rhythm …

Though nestled against a backdrop as vibrant and vivacious as the bright lights of Vegas amidst the arid desert night, the vocal harmony in “Point of View,” one of the new songs on Gordy Hunt’s Mood Swings LP, is as much of a sonic centerpiece as listeners could have hoped for in …

With a swift kick in the drums and a heartily swinging guitar riff to lead the way, Mike Dekleva’s Psychedelia opens up with a title cut that is as entrancing as its name would suggest it to be, and inside of the song’s three minutes and change, we’re introduced to a funkier …

Though as powerful as the riffs beside it in “Fuck Yeah” and yet approachably melodic in the title track from Kingdom Illusion, the lead vocal in Whiskerman’s all-new album is hardly the conventional linchpin some would expect it to be in a record as ambitious as this one is, but it’s …

In a powerful stomping beat as potent as any I’ve heard this year, Tonne’s new EP Bridey Murphy kicks into gear with its opening cut, “Jesus, Julie Christie!,” and instantly fills the air around us with a textured, riff-driven melody that could make anyone into an indie rock fan. The rolling …

True grit has always been an important element in the creation of a solid country album, but for that matter, so has pastoral melodicism, with the best kinds coming from a songwriter who can sing as well as they could compose – taking that into account, Carlos Washington’s Steel Horse …

A psychedelic-tinged melody fills the air around us as “Breathe In,” the first track in Gallery 47’s new LP East Street begins to play, a subdued but menacing guitar weaving together a harmony that will linger in our minds long after the music has ceased to play. This intriguing introduction to East Street indeed …