Shells is the musical alias of Kansas City, Missouri’s own stunning artist Riley Brown. The name Shells came from the “…notion that we are bigger than our bodies. They’re just the shells that keep us contained in this moment.” Produced by Josh Johnson, New Bones is Shells’ debut EP, and we’ve got your exclusive first listen to it in its entirety.
In the six track EP, Shells communicates both the pensiveness and the peace – lyrics that have the edge, with calm tunes and a delicate voice that provide the hope. “Fragments” is the tune that will draw you in with a lush orchestral movement at the beginning, segueing into an easy beat with words that are weary with hope.
A new favorite is the title track “New Bones”. Brown deals candidly with the end of a relationship – or will it end if the offending partner will just say sorry? The tune is fresh and you will find yourself dancing along. A definite addition to any summer playlist.
Brown said the following about the debut:
I started writing most of the songs on New Bones right after my son was born when I was feeling a little bit blue and only changed out of my pajamas once a week (maybe). A couple songs came from ideas that I’d held onto from a painful experience in a relationship involving infidelity. In early 2015 when I started writing New Bones I was a new mother, newlywed, recent college-graduate living in a family member’s basement with my husband, who was trying to finish graduate school. I would say that “melancholy” is a theme that ties the lyrical content of the EP together, but not all of the songs sound like total downers. I carried the mentality that all of these doors had suddenly slammed shut in my life but writing this music brought peace that I desperately needed during that time.
Track List:
- Fragments
- Let You Down
- Treading Water
- Christmas in Hawaii
- Return to Sender
- New Bones
The album release party for New Bones will be at The Riot Room in Kansas City on July 20th. Tickets and info about the event are available here. Keep up with Shells here.
