Stranded at Two Harbors

Description

With a revolving door of collaborators that include Ariel Pink, Girls Christopher Owens and John Maus, Matt Fishbecks Holy Shit is ground zero for the West Coasts lauded pop idiosyncrasies in recent years. The Harvard graduate and devout gondolier emerged as Holy Shit in 2006 with Stranded at Two Harbors, a collaboration with Ariel Pink that foreshadowed the latters work in Haunted Graffiti, and garnered a fervent cult following for Fishbecks singular approach to labyrinthine home production and chilling melodies. Later EPs appeared on imprints like Fat Possum, and recent years have found Holy Shit touring with Beach House.

Fishbecks artistic character is further revealed by unusual projects: he contributed to a book on the venerable 1980s English pop group Felt and last year brandished a cover of Woke Up Sticky, a solo single from The Only Ones Peter Perrett, at an exhibition opening of visual artist Ryan McGinley in San Francisco. A latticework of understated percussion and tape hiss throughout, Stranded at Two Harbors on the front-end veers from the bristling new wave intensity of Tokyo Gamblers to the poignant psychedelic pop of My Whole Life Story. On the flip, Fishbecks pop adaptation runs wild. The damaged and buoyant thrill of I Dont Need Enemies even puns on the English music weeklies, with an Anglo-inflected final line, or Melody Maker for that matter! Production and surface aesthetic traits aside, The Castle illuminates Fishbecks principle assets: evocative imagery set to deeply penetrating melodies with that perfect guitar lead to match.