Shady Oaks – 3 AM (2022)
Shady Oaks is introducing us to their fresh sound through the layered fuzziness of ‘3 AM’. Written about the fifth day of a really bad bout of insomnia, the single captures the feeling of potentially losing your mind and never being able to fully recover from the mental strain you are under. Packed with thundering drums, fuzzy guitars and stacked vocals, the single brings a psychedelic edge to harder blues rock tones while retaining some of the band’s characteristic darkness.
Boldly delving into a subject that is often ignored by music, the band continues their look at the world and life in general. The approachable sound of the band comes from the combined musical stylings of Ty Gallaway (lead guitar, vocals), Isaac Vance (rhythm guitar), Brendan Lamb (bass), Jonah Samp (drums) and Loren Dorland (supporting vocals, vocoder). Coming from different musical backgrounds with varying favoured styles, they meld their musicality into something truly unique.
‘3 AM’ grabs your attention through the guitars that bring a stilted stop-start feeling to the opening. Through the movement of the guitars, you can feel a psychedelic edge that edges toward a spiral into madness. There is a fuzziness to the edges of your peripheral vision that adds an out-of-body feeling to the music. It is like you are detached from your body and following your own life a step behind your physical self. This is an amazing melody that really packs the feeling of day 5 of insomnia into an engaging arrangement. Halfway through the track, there is a shivering anticipation to the melody that enhances the spiral of dizziness. While the guitars seem to drive the melody, the drums toss them to new heights as they soar through your senses.
While you are slipping into the downward spiral of fuzziness through the melody, Gallaway’s vocals bring a physical touch to the story. Through his performance, you can feel your limbs become heavy, while the draw of sleep continues to elude you. The lyrics are delightfully descriptive as they send you into the story. There is a great interplay between what is happening around you and the impact of no sleep on your body. At times, you can feel your heart pound with the narrator, only to sink into a floating feeling of slowly losing your grip on reality. Woven into the low levels of the vocal performance is a sense of panic over what is happening which is enhanced by the call of the backing vocals.
Shady Oaks has us spiralling into the fuzziness and panic of a prolonged bout of insomnia with the descriptive and extremely emotive ‘3 AM’. The melody packs a serious melodic punch as it yanks you into the spiral of the single. The vocals bring a new edge to this as they provide a sense of panic combined with the physical toll of insomnia.
Find out more about Shady Oaks on their website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
