Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus. So goes the official motto of Detroit and so it goes for Shallow Stairs: We rise from the ashes and hope for better things.
Shallow Stairs are a four piece rock band from the fringes of Detroit, the nation's rustbelt underdog. They bring decades of experience and a beautifully weird junk drawer of influences to make a sound that is new but familiar. Drawing from Detroit's hard rock heritage (Stooges, MC5) but influenced by everything since (Patti Smith, Pixies, shoegaze, Riot Grrl, Zeppelin) they are a band out of time and of our time.
Their story (and lyrics) really parallel that of Detroit, rags to riches and back again. The black humor of tragedy, the very 'this too shall pass' essence of life, the richness of living through it and passing on the stories.
The vocals of Terrianne Gould are sultry and intimate, scary and soaring. Her guitar work is the platform on which the rest of the Stairs load their ecletic layers. Her husband Andy Gould lays down bass lines that go from earthy to scuzz fuzz doom all in the same song. His partner in rhythm is the Rev. DK Wallis whose playing channels whatever influences necessary to fulfill the song at hand best, from new wave and punk to Zep thump. He is also not afraid to underplay when appropriate and will leave space to make things work better. The icing is the lead and textural work of Matt Adams's guitar. He coaxes shimmering dissonant atomspheres from his gear, but with hooky melody, too. Hummable apocalypse.
Shallow Stairs have only just begun. They formed in late 2016 and had a working set and their first gig (Hamtramck Music Fest) within a few months. Every practice brings a new song. Some are keepers, others are shelved or thown back into the abyss. Perhaps to rise again from the ashes when the time is right.
