Shonali — One Machine at a Time
Qobuz new release review (July 2024)
The post-Nirvana ’90s were both a boon and a burden to regional indie rock scenes across the U.S., as locally beloved bands got scooped up by labels large and small in the hopes of riding the zeitgeist to fame and fortune. Many — if not most — of those bands never made it past having a song as track 9 on a giveaway compilation CD sponsored by some extreme potato chip flavor, and, eventually, everyone shaved their goatees, put their frayed cardigans in the donation pile, and got “real jobs.” But some of those musicians who missed the brass ring just kept right on going, figuring out a way to stay involved in the music scene without relying on a sense of nostalgia. Shonali Bhowmik, whose band Babyfat (later dubbed Ultrababyfat upon signing to Walter Yetnikoff’s Velvel label) was a darling of Atlanta’s flourishing early ’90s indie rock scene, is one of those lifers. Despite Babyfat/Ultrababyfat never breaking through with their harmony-rich guitar-rock (1998’s excellent Silver Tones Smilewas ultimately a victim of bad timing), the band remained a going concern through two more albums in 2001 and 2006, with Bhowmik’s next project, Tigers and Monkeys, releasing albums in 2007, 2014 and 2018. Her first solo album, 100 Oaks Revival emerged in 2011, and is now followed up with One Machine at a Time. That steady (if not rapid) pulse of releases has kept Bhowmik’s music fresh and interesting, though still decidedly connected to the pop-leaning edges of ’90s indie and alt-rock. For One Machine, though, her approach explicitly looks backward, both to the sound and spirit of the pre-internet underground and further to her own family; the album is dedicated to the memory of her recently deceased father. “Firefly” speaks directly to her father’s impact on her, and, rather than being some maudlin memorial, the song’s epic acoustic guitar arrangement is bolstered by a propulsive drum machine and soaring multi-tracked harmonies that give the track heft and complexity. It’s the highlight of a trio of songs in the middle of the album that beautifully illuminate the diversity of sonics at play here; “Boom Boom in This Sad Soundtrack” dabbles in mildly psychedelic shoegaze textures, while the title track evokes a twangy sort of classic rock. Elsewhere, “Did I Mess This Up” is a jaunty pop tune that wouldn’t have been out of place on a long-lost Paisley Underground compilation and “Radio Days are Coming Back” is the sort of explicit call to glory days that Gen X indie rockers don’t get enough of.
