Peer Validated

Pictured: This looks innocent, but it’s not. Oh, no. Not at all.

For many songwriters, writing and recording begins alone in a bedroom, sitting on the floor with a guitar and a four track. Many of the songs made from this are never heard, be it because of uncertainty or because of a lack of the means to produce an album, but every once in a while an artist like this slips through the cracks and finds a way to be heard.

This is the story of Shelby Sifers, who calls Sante Fe, New Mexico her home. Her vocal style is similar to Joanna Newsom, with a scratchy and soft approach, and her music is composed of incredibly minimal bits of acoustic guitar, banjo, keyboard and melodica. Her songs feature small cameos by friends and family members, and in trying to find a genre for Shelby, many reviewers and bloggers have used words like ‘cutesy,’ and ‘love-core.’ Although I’d love to laugh at them and be able to describe her sound otherwise, I just can’t do better than that. Her songs are about random little bits of what’s on Shelby’s mind, ranging from heartbreak to preserving a snowman in the freezer so she can be friends with him all year long. At any rate, Shelby Sifers’ writing is as honest as can be, with much to tell about how far a little bit of care and creativity can go.

Start Taking Naps is about being free of prescribed political views and features the lyric, ‘I think gays should get married, but married life ain’t the life for me.’ Hmm.