Photo by Christina Fallara
When last we heard from Abram Shook, the Austinite was ripping through his playbook on the fantastic Landscape Dream, which earned him an Artist of the Month honor. That playbook includes a lot of different sounds: aggressive funk, pastoral psych, Brazilian rhythms, and Shook’s technical ear for making it all sound seamless. He has a lot of experience as a sideman–he’s played with Shearwater and the Low Lows, among others–but Shook has his own thing going.
“The Hours,” though, is something pretty different for Shook. The first taste from his upcoming third solo album is personal, clearheaded, and, quite simply, gorgeous, even as it lays bare an emotional crisis. Austin’s Tosca String Quartet adds an atmospheric weight to the song, floating above Shook’s stacked harmonies. Like in the past, the attention-to-detail is pure ear-candy, but “The Hours” adds up to something bigger and better.
“The Hours” appears on Love At Low Speed, out June 16 via Western Vinyl. Abram Shook plays at the Mohawk on Thursday, April 27, part of Bee Caves’ April residency.
–Art Levy // host, Sunday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., producer, My KUTX
