Over their three previous albums, Shannon and The Clams have created a sound that is distinctively their own while sharpening retro-pop into a raw edge. In their new song, “Corvette,” the Oakland-based indie punk trio greases the line between frantic 80’s rock ‘n’ roll and 60’s pop nostalgia as Shannon croons like a punk rock Etta James. Her voice is soulful in a way that is wholeheartedly and uniquely sincere, yet it carries an element of melancholy that has the potential to open oceans of sadness.
“Corvette” is the first song from the band’s upcoming fourth LP, Gone By the Dawn. In the video, directed by Loren Risker, Shannon takes a ride in a Barbie Pink dream car. The fantasy image of Shannon cruising seaside with her man is turned into a Shadow Morton-style doomed romance. Shots that switch between black-and-white and Kodachrome color further the melodrama and themes of lost love. Sadly, not everything is meant to be as Shannon cries at the end, “I’m just waiting here…for a corvette that never comes.” Shannon’s retro hunk is revealed to be nothing but a phony and plastic Ken doll, the one that never manifests all the dreams a little girl expects with the perfect smile and fanciful romance.
Gone By the Dawn is out 9/11 on Hardly Art.
