GET TO THIS SHOW: Sheer Mag @ The Sinclair (10/11)
Sheer Mag’s dizzying rise initiated in 2014, when the Philadelphia band self-released the first of three 7-inch records and started showing up on Northeast US DIY circuit. Ironically, the music stood apart because it sounded so familiar. Indebted to classic rock, power-pop, and proto-metal, Sheer Mag’s music delivers those nostalgic sounds, wrapped in a modern DIY package.
On their debut album, Need to Feel Your Love (2017), the band surveyed their contemporary political landscape through the lens of history. Singer Tina Halladay transported herself back to the 1969 Stonewall Riots, denounced redlining practices that undermine the popular vote, and paid homage to White Rose activist Sophie Scholl. On paper, it’s a mouthful, but accompanied by guitarist/lyricist Matt Palmer, guitarist Kyle Seely, and bassist/producer Hart Seely, those songs became hook-laden rallying cries.
This year Sheer Mag returned with their sophomore album, A Distant Call which dropped in August. They’re still writing about surviving our current political landscape, but this time around, the politics get more personal. The album verges on being a concept piece, and the protagonist resembles Halladay herself. The songs document a particularly alienating time in her life when she was laid off from a job. Broke and newly single, her father (with whom she had a fraught relationship) passed away, leaving her with more wounds than felt possible to heal.
Sheer Mag play The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA on Friday, October 11th at 8pm. Tickets are $18 and are available HERE.
