“Embarrassed Dog” is not related to the “Bubblegum Dog” which is a shame and a crime. Maybe they are cousins with a bit of hip hop swagger. I don’t know, that’s all I have. Sorry. Read the press release below for your edification.
Last month, Chanel Beads — the project of New York-based musician Shane Lavers — announced his debut album, Your Day Will Come, out 4/19 via Jagjaguwar. Today, Lavers shares the single “Embarrassed Dog” with an accompanying video directed by experimental filmmaker Robbie Barnett. “Embarrassed Dog” follows the previously released singles “Idea June” and “Police Scanner.” Featuring backing vocals by live bandmate Maya McGrory and violin from Zachary Paul, “Embarrassed Dog” channels the outlandish sound of ‘80s sophisti-pop pioneered by The Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, and David Sylvian. The two basses featured in the song (played through MIDI then doubled with a bass guitar) mirror the dual nature of the dog that Lavers sings of, which also functions as a metaphor for how he viewed his younger self: an animal bound to the lives of other people, who only pretends to be tough and scary.
Your Day Will Come marks Lavers’ arrival as a new force in experimental music. Throughout the album, Lavers captures the many contradictions of modern existence and the strange infiniteness of the digital world. Though he incorporates the scrappy sonics of post-punk, the gripping sentimentality of pop tunes, and the spectral artifice of electronic music, he blurs lines through unconventional song structures that build into transcendental climaxes. As he intentionally prints his songs down to embed fried artifacts and ghostly remains, the resulting songs have a time-collapsing quality, both transitory and timeless.
Lavers first started writing Your Day Will Come during a period of reflection in November 2022. Stuck quarantining in his Brooklyn apartment, he found himself wanting to dig down into the core of who he truly was, apart from fleeting trends or rebounding cultural moments. So during that strange time between winter holidays, he started to write songs that wrestled with loss that rippled through his life, foundational to the way he sees himself and the way he relates to others. Throughout, Lavers weaves in contributions from McGrory and Paul, who offer their own layers of feeling that add to the huge emotionality of the album.
The title of Your Day Will Come is another double-sided trick. It could be read as a promise of the arrival of good karma, or it could be a reminder of one’s mortality, said out of spite. Yet as Lavers unpacks the haunting feelings of the past that he must release in order to move into his future, he reminds us that grief and hope might be closer than they seem to the naked eye.
Following their appearance at SXSW this week, Chanel Beads will open for Mount Kimbie on their spring tour. Named one of SPIN’s Artists to Watch in 2024, Chanel Beads’ live show is not to be missed — a full list of dates is below and tickets are on sale now.
Chanel Beads at SXSW
Wed. March 13 – Spring Break Boogie 13 @ Hotel Vegas (4:00 PM)
Wed. March 13 – SXYJ @ Yellow Jacket Social Club (5:30 PM)
Thu. March 14 – AdHoc Free For All @ Cheer Up Charlies (3:30 PM)
Thu. March 14 – Bayonet Records x Howdy Gals @ Spider House (6:30 PM)
Fri. Mar. 15 – End Of An Ear Record Store (1:00 PM)
Fri. March 15 – Bloody Knuckles @ Four Fountains Tattoo Collective (4:40 PM)
Sat. March 16 – Resound Presents All Are Welcome @ Mohawk (3:40 PM)
Sat. March 16 – Baby’s All Right x Perfectly Imperfect @ The Creek and Cave (12:25 AM)
Chanel Beads Tour Dates
Fri. May 17 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
Sat. May 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey *
Tue. May 21 – Denver, CO @ Perplexiplex *
Thu. May 23 – Austin, TX @ Parish *
Sat. May 25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *
Tue. May 28 – Toronto, ON @ Axis *
Wed. May 29 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall *
* = supporting Mount Kimbie
