Even though ‘A Shedding Snake’ is Outer Spaces debut album, it feels like they have left an old skin behind and started anew. Everything has been ramped up on ‘A Shedding Snake’, and finds the band venturing into more expansive territory for the better; they now sound like a full band, and one that has created an instantly delectable debut album.
While front woman Cara Beth Satalino’s vocals are the driving for force of the band, they are less reserved on ‘A Shedding Snake.’ The lush, textured arrangement of the album has given her a chance to lift her voice up in the mix. Backed by Rob Dowler of Tides, and multi instrumentalist, Chester Gwazda (who’s production credits include Future Islands and Cloud Nothings), each track has been meticulously composed, and provided the perfect bed for Satalino to rest her intoxicating vocal on.
Drifting between classic Americana and subtle folk-rock, tracks like ‘Mint On The Sill’ and ‘Shade Of Grey’ sway like a gentle summer breeze. The rich production accentuates every nuance of the album, while allowing breathing space for beautiful guitar lines to break through the instrumentation. The up-tempo rhythms of ‘Born Enemy’ and ‘Stone And Water’ rattle along like the finer moments of the Counting Crows back catalogue, giving the album added depth and intrigue.
As to be expected, it is Satalino who really shines on ‘A Shedding Snake’. Her emotionally jarring narrative, which pays homage to new beginnings throughout the record, leaves the door open and invites you in from the outset. She soulfully croons through ‘Eternally Fifteen’, and avoids running the risk of sounding twee during the alt-country hooks of album closer, ‘What Is Real’.
‘A Shedding Snake’ is far from a daringly different album in the grand scheme of things, but it is big leap for Outer Spaces. It was the next logical step for Satalino after the predominately solo efforts of her earlier material, and one that Out Spaces have wholeheartedly embraced.
GLEN BUSHELL