Written by Katie Clayton
Wait and Shackle is a Long Island based math rock band releasing their third album entitled, Happy 26th Birthday this March. The album is roughly 30 minutes of free form, nuanced improvisations by four very practiced musicians that like to play outside the lines of four/four time.
The band released their album The Cantilever just last year. Since then they’ve expanded, taking on a new drummer, Quinn McCormack, and moving Christian Seda to guitar alongside Dave Lundari and bassist Kevinn Rinn. It appears time has been of the essence for these four; having all played together in various bands throughout the years “Happy 26th Birthday” is an upbeat album filled with all the noodling and obscurity that anyone that just wants to get down and dance can enjoy.
Their first song “Caps for Sale” got its name from a children’s story book and a novel, The Alchemist. Taking the light heartedness of a story about a band of mischievous monkeys and an allegory about a shepherd searching for treasure, the song opens with a piano solo and transcends into a series of eight guitar parts that I can only surmise as some of the groups favorite rhythms and measures.
“Halfway to the Fourth Wave” the last song on the album, holds true to their math rock title. The song is calculated yet not too technical where you can’t just break out and let loose. It brings you in and just as quickly lets you go. It’s a type of energy that permeates directly from them, stating that “The stars really aligned for us with that song, its just so natural for us to get through it.”
Prior to the album’s release the band has been putting out a series of video compilations taken throughout their time recording, with the intent of wanting to be able to show not only all that they’ve put into this but that it’s not “all peaches and cream”. And while they have left an element of surprise to some things, like the story behind their album name, they could tell me that they are having four release shows. One being at Gold Sound in Brooklyn on March 21st and another in New Paltz, NY, on March 23rd. If you’re interested in keeping tabs on these guys you can follow them on Facebook and Bandcamp but I wouldn’t be too surprised if you see them rolling through a venue near you!
