Shirley & The Pyramids

Pure Pain // Grey Rercords

Listening to Aron Zacharias’ second full length record as Shirley & The Pyramids is like being wrapped up in a warm fuzzy blanket and gently rocked to sleep. Pure Pain has a familiarity that’s impossible to pin point, maybe it’s a memory from your childhood or perhaps it’s a dream. Regardless, making a record that can resonate in such a way is an incredible achievement. Zacharias experiments with different genres such as garage, shoegaze and noise while keeping psychedelic overtones in every style he chooses to employ. His skills as musician, songwriter and engineer are on full display since he wrote every song, played every instrument and recorded the album himself. One of Pure Pain’s strongest and most necessary assets are the drones that build over and between the songs. They serve as “sonic” adhesive that keeps the album’s aesthetic over the nine tracks. Lyrically, a theme of travel can be found throughout but it’s more specific to the emotions and reflections that travelling sparks within ones soul. Perhaps the reflective nature of the album that makes it seem familiar or maybe it’s something within the arrangements, but one thing is for sure... Pure Pain resonates long after the final track ends.