As well as pumping out the true school soul of Lee Fields and Lady Wray and the more psychedelic outpourings of El Michels Affair, Leon Michels and Danny Akalepse’s Big Crown label is also behind psychedelic wunderkinder The Shacks. If you’ve previously caught anything by them, you’ll know that The Shacks’ sound is defined by two things. One is the sweetly whispery vocals of Shannon Wise. The other is the way their output straddles multiple genre boundaries, most obviously nodding to 60s west coast psychedelia, but with new wave and soul influences as well as, on this single, a rocksteady element. Currently the sound of the Apple iPhone 8 advert, there possibly isn’t a better time for The Shacks to release This Strange Effect on 45 along with extra cuts consisting of the positively Motown-ish Fly Fishing and Hands In Your Pockets which demonstrates the band’s hitherto hidden talent for knocking out rocksteady. Vid. below.
(Out now on Big Crown)