Shapes and Sizes – Candle to Your Eyes

On their third album Candle to Your Eyes Montreal-based Shapes and Sizes document a slick, dark and sensual sound, its curves draped in noir’s glamorous velvet. Fusing garage rock with elements of classic funk and R&B, the band would risk sounding incoherent were it not for their trump card; vocalist Caila Thompson-Hannant’s seductive vocals tie the rest of the sound together. Quite wisely, Rory Seydel has been relegated to secondary vocal duties. Without doubt he is a capable alternative to Thompson-Hannant, but it is the latter’s easy mastery of vocal acrobatics so often misused – not least melisma – that give the record its unifying thread. Journeying into Candle to Your Eyes‘ shadowy world, Thompson-Hannant is our temptress-guide, Seydel her sidekick, occasionally injecting his boyish counterpoints into the proceedings.

It goes without saying that there is much more to this record than its voices, and indeed there is a good deal to say about how differently Shapes and Sizes approach the basic rock archetype. Refreshingly, it is very often the case that bass and drums take precedence over guitar, lending the songs a rhythmic richness which Thompson-Hannant can use to move about freely, exploiting every opportunity for the sultry inflections which give Candle to Your Eyes its essential sexiness. Even when Shapes and Sizes are writing about something so glitzy as the music business – as on late highlight “The Hit Parade” – sufficient dark space is always left for us to be beckoned alluringly into.

Shapes and Sizes’ consistent willingness to experiment with intriguing sounds is crucial to their campaign of enticement. Guitars always ring out with a distinctively shimmering tone or echo; drums are always measured so as to be subtle and yet powerful, especially on opener ‘Tell Your Mum’. Elsewhere, ‘Time Has Practically Stopped’ features an instrument I can’t quite place but which I last heard on a thoroughly quirky Japanese pop record, if that’s anything to go by.

Consistently interesting, gifted with a unique and darkly sexy atmosphere and admirably concise at nine songs and 39 minutes, Candle to Your Eyes is a testament to the growing experience of Shapes and Sizes as they have reached the milestone of their third album. If the songs featuring Seydel were as engaging as those fronted so wonderfully by Thompson-Hannant, this would be an even better album. As it is, this is a solid and coherent effort at hybridized styles and more than enough reason to keep a watchful eye on Shapes and Sizes for some time to come.