Otis Shanty have a sound that slowly creeps up on you with their beautiful four-piece instrumental interplay; sort of an updated take on classic college radio jangle pop. The songwriting is often disarmingly beautiful. On Shadow of Doubt, their third full-length album and their first since 2024’s Up on the Hill, singer and multi-instrumentalist Sadye Bobbette tells “parallel stories of existential, romantic, and platonic relationships, all haunted by the shadow play of forces that seek to end them.”
The quartet, hailing from Somerville, just outside of Boston, comprises Bobbette, guitarist Ryan DiLello, bassist Julian Snyder, and drummer Jono Quinn, and their music is a hypnotic blend of guitar-based melodies, shimmering, understated keyboards, and a beautifully propulsive rhythm section. In the opening track, “Where to Look for Things”, the mesmerizing melody eventually gives way to a tense buildup with subtle keyboard washes and no trace of any ostentatious moves. It’s all executed with elegant understatement.
The multifaceted sensibility of tracks like “Ceiling” bounces back and forth from ethereal dream pop to DiLello’s anthemic, soaring chords. When DeLello takes lead vocal duties on the smart, jangly “Lowballer”, it sounds like a refreshing variation on a band that revels in finding unique ways to build on their sound.
Brief instrumental interludes “Breeze I” and “Breeze II” are tucked away in the record, largely guitar-based and eloquent, adding a pensive, occasionally abstract take on the band’s sound. While Otis Shanty could never be accused of being overly derivative of any specific style or genre, it’s a delight to hear songs like “Hemlock”, anchored by Snyder’s chunky bass lines, evoking classic sounds of everyone from the Sundays to a more grounded, guitar-based take on the Cocteau Twins.
Like the best bands who mine influences of the past, Otis Shanty create something unique with every new album, whether it’s the woozy shoegaze of “For Once”, the urgent jangle of “Around the Bend”, or one of the record’s absolute peaks, the gentle album closer “Fearless”, beautifully arranged with lush piano. Shadow of Doubt sees Otis Shanty continue to build on their sound with no compromise, plus another truckload of impeccable songs.