Whit’s Sunday Crush: The Shivers

I was never really “into” Jeff Buckley. I thought alot of his stuff was beautiful but either I was too young or too ambivalent to really be a massive fan. I go through weird valleys where romantic acoustic songs make me nauseous.

However, I recently heard The Shivers for the first time. For as much as I hate simple wailing love songs, I love me some heartbreak and pain even more.

The first time I heard “Beauty”, I mustve sat in the parking lot during my lunch hour and listened 20 times. Yes, it’s very derivative of Lou Reed, Buckley, The National & just about everyone. DONT CARE.

The refrain of “love” makes for beautiful prose as well. The way I know I can connect with most new artists if I can translate their pain. The lyrics are so concise and wounded that you can just read them below and catch a case of the aches.

i live off love

i feed off love

i breathe off love

i think of love

i drink of love

i sink in love

and in the middle of the night i need my love

i need to grieve and need to need and be in love

my love is gonna come to me

tonight

i give my love and all my love to you, my love

i feast on love, a beast for love, release my love

you’re scared and unprepared for love, don’t care my love

cause youre the only woman i’ve been dreaming of

i swear to god i’m loving you for that

i swear to god i’m making you my wife

and if you ever leave me

i never will be sore

i’ll love you ’til you’re lonely

then i’ll love you some more just before

ohh..

beauty beauty beauty, there’s nobody near me,

there never was

beauty beauty beauty, there’s nobody near me,

there never was.

 

Another honorable mention belongs to their song “Just Didn’t Need to Know”. After doing some digging into their bio and learned it’s mostly a husband-wife duo who only traveled and performed together under this moniker in the late 90s. If youre not Johnny & June or Loretta & Earnest, I usually purposefully avoid anything to do with the weary Civil Wars/Shovels & Rope trap. Luckily, the female factor of the band prefers her husband’s wailing to do most of the work. Respect. This is not the movie ONCE, girl, and I’m glad you feel me on that.

The Shivers – Just Didn’t Need To Know from Matt Davey on Vimeo.