Outer Spaces, A Shedding Snake, 2016

Album Review

I'm trying something new today. It's Memorial Day Weekend. It's beautiful out. I live just over 3 miles from the beach, so I decided to take my bike and my iPad Mini over to Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park in Long Branch to write this review. This would probably work better with an actual laptop, but it's going ok so far.

There's something interesting and weird about sitting here in public at a table on the boardwalk with my headphones on. I'm watching the breeze blow the dune grass from side to side, parents slather children with sunscreen, and an elderly couple unpack their lunch. All soundtracked by the dark, southern-tinged beauty of Outer Spaces' A Shedding Snake. It's strangely perfect.

Guitar and electric piano layer over the opening drumbeat of "I Saw You." Songwriter / vocalist / mastermind Cara Beth Satalino's vocals are a bright counterpoint to some of the dirge-like chords, and the song takes on an almost New Pornographers-like power pop character when the "aaaa aaaas" of the chorus come in.

"I took my insides out / Left them all around the house... ...I'm a dog at your feet," sings Satalino on the deceptively bright, alt-country "Words." After graduating from SUNY Purchase, Satalino spent some time in Athens, GA before finally settling in Baltimore; and "Words" is one of the spots where that early R.E.M. twang comes through. Single "Heavy Stone Poem" is another.

Some girls -- maybe 12 years old -- are carrying Boogie boards down to the beach as Satalino sings "slow... slow... slowly now..." Why aren't they in school?

The wailing guitar that opens "I Was Divided" gives the song a cinematic feel. "The future is brighter than the stars in the sky" is a different sentiment than the co-dependency of "Words," and the "shedding snake" theme starts to become apparent. "Born Enemy" is dark, angry, and one of my favorite songs on the album.

Both songs have a Lynch-ian vibe that contrasts with the sweet smiles of those people over there posing for pictures in front of the ocean.

The album closes, appropriately, with just Satalino and guitar on "What Is Real." Producer and multi-instrumentalist Chester Gwazda -- who's worked in the past with Future Islands, Cloud Nothings, and Dan Deacon -- gives A Shedding Snake its forlorn yet poppy character, but it's Satalino's songwriting and vocals that carry the record. There's something appealing at an almost subconscious level about Satalino's voice. I especially love the guitars here, but I find myself waiting for the vocals to come in every time.

Maybe it was a little too distracting to try and write this at the beach. I kept imagining everything -- the boy over there drinking from a juice box, the mom washing the sand off her toddler, the young couple eating sno cones -- as a weird, conceptual video for the songs on this record. When I took off my headphones, the images of people moving silently through the indie / Americana world of A Shedding Snake became the sights of a pre-holiday weekend Jersey Shore. Both have their charms, but I'm popping the headphones on one more time before I head home.

A Shedding Snake is out now on Don Giovanni.