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Friday, March 8, 2002

Shand gets his hooks into pop
By DARRYL STERDAN
Winnipeg Sun

THE WAY I FEEL
Remy Shand
(Universal)
RATING: 4.5/5

For a medium-sized city smack dab in the middle of nowhere, Winnipeg has produced a pretty long list of musical talent: The Guess Who, The Crash Test Dummies, Neil Young, The Watchmen, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Weakerthans, Chantal Kreviazuk, Bif Naked, Holly McNarland, Propagandhi and Duotang -- just to name a handful.

Pretty soon, we'll be able add another name to that list: Remy Shand. Who? Don't worry -- nobody's really heard of him yet. But in a couple of months, after his unbelievable debut album [b]The Way I Feel[/b] gets its hooks into the pop charts here and in the U.S., this ridiculously talented neo-soul crooner and songwriter is gonna be huge. Huger than almost everybody on that list above. He's also gonna be everywhere -- heavy rotation on MTV, guest spots on the late-night chatfests, gladhanding at awards shows. And you're gonna be telling all your out-of-town friends that he's from Winnipeg.

We bet they won't believe you. Hell, you might find it hard to believe yourself after you listen to The Way I Feel. After all, this is no meat-and-potatoes prairie rock record. {{{This is a soul-pop gem filled with supple, subtle grooves, ear-catching melodies and powerful vocals that sound like they came straight from the Motown vaults in Detroit. Or maybe from the archives of Curtis Mayfield's studio in Philadelphia. Perhaps even from Prince's basement in Minneapolis.}}}

Try his parents' condo in Garden City. That, amazingly, is where the 24-year-old Shand spent four years writing, arranging, recording and producing these 11 slices of authentic, classic soul -- by himself. Four years playing everything from the funky drums and percussion to the groovy bass and wah-wah guitar to the shimmering electric pianos and vintage synths. Four years multi-tracking his voice into backup choruses. And four years channelling the essence of every legendary Motown artist from Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder to Smoky Robinson and Michael Jackson, weaving all their strengths into a sound that's authentic without being derivative, classic without being nostalgic -- and that goes down as smooth as the cognac that shares Shand's given name. (Hey, don't take our word for it. Ask Motown Records; it's putting out The Way I Feel in the U.S. Yes, you read that right: Motown -- THE Motown -- is releasing an album recorded at home by a kid from Winnipeg. All our gushing aside, that should tell you how remarkable this CD is.)

The single Take a Message, now on Much and likely coming soon to every radio station within earshot, is a fine intro to Shand's style. Gently grooving to a slinky, seductive rhythm and lightly fingered bass line, built around simple piano chords and a whistling synth melody, powered by Shand's lover-man falsetto and lush background harmonies, Take a Message is the finest four minutes of pure pop perfection since MmmBop and Livin' la Vida Loca. But unlike those hits, you won't be sick of Take a Message in three months' time. Nor will you get tired of the other 10 cuts on this 45-minute album -- not the chicken-pickin' blaxploitation funk of Liberate and The Second One, not the slow Prince ballads like I Met Your Mercy and Burning Bridges. In fact, thanks to Shand's tasteful arrangements and inspired production, these songs don't get older, they get better. With every listening, you hear something -- a fluttering guitar lick here, a cool conga beat there -- that you didn't notice before. That, along with the instantly catchy choruses and melodies, keeps you coming back for more.

You and everybody else.

Track Listing
1. The Way I Feel
2. Burning Bridges
3. Everlasting
4. The Second One
5. The Colour Of Day
6. Take A Message
7. I Met Your Mercy
8. Rocksteady
9. Liberate
10. Looking Back On Vanity
11. The Mind's Eye

[The first single from this guy's CD is GOOD. I don't know if it's quite Prince-like, or Prince-worthy, but it's catchy, and he obviously has talent. And he got airplay on BET?! Looking forward to the CD! -Ben]

Well, I should certainly HOPE Prince would be referenced...