Shana Falana, Here Comes The Waves

  A vicious accident on I 55 delayed me long enough to miss Shana Falana's entire set so this here will be about hearing Here Comes  The Waves after. It was nice to see Airiel while I talked to Shana at the merch table. I bought the CD straight away. And I got a nagging question out of the way. There was a scene on American Horror Story, Hotel, where I heard for a brief instant a track from Shana. As soon as I heard it. Hmm. I'm hearing things, mixing things up. What I hear in the car, the CDs....how the fuck is that on TV.  That's like Captain Kirk making a cameo appearance on Mork And Mindy....oh wait that was actually just Shatner. Hmmm, how about this....That's like Han Solo making a cameo on Deep Space Nine. Damn, what was this in reference to? Oh right, Shana on AHS or at least her music, for like seconds. Alright back to Schuba's. So, here's  Shana, and so I absolutely had to ask. And indeed they did use a song of hers! I think it was .... Go. So at least I get to hear the CD in the car on the way home. And I got to talk to her as well.
 
  Cool Kids is all kinds of ........coolness. Shana was way nice talking to me as I struggled to figure out what else to say to her. I mean once the AHS thing was out of the way and then the fucking accident on I-55, I had nothing....I was fucking Charlie Brown auditioning for Charlie Brown. Hmm, well, it was cool that she even remembered me at all. Cool Kids is ambitious and hopeful and mindful. Its aggressive forward driving dream pop engine runs as Shana reassures with confidence. I think I already heard Philly play this on Shimmer at Slippery Slope. Everything on Her Come The Waves is dance-floor worthy in the best dream pop/shoegaze tradition. I was barely feeling Ocean when here comes You Did. I notice she continues her practice of reworking and reissuing older work. I don't mind it, at all. Those songs mean something to her, and that makes me listen more. I'll go listen both versions of Brainy Fox, hmmm Lie 2 Me, Where R U....because its interesting. Why these songs? She couldn't just let them go. She changed and they had to change with her perhaps. Actually, she is very open and insightful about how and why individual tracks were created. It makes for more mindful listening. She is now many years sober. And her music makes references to the struggle to reach that sobriety as well as the triumph of being in it. Music is often created through real struggle with real inner demons. So as cheery and sweet as her music can sound,
  There is a dark side to it, vanquished but still present. Velvet Pop is a brilliant album and now so is Here Comes The Waves.  Some tracks can't stay as is, and that is fascinating about Shana Falana. There is something new that she can pull out of old tracks. As for me, I'm glad to have both versions of a great track. The why is for what you read about in their interviews.
Zig