Shana David - "Terminally Bourgeois" (Shrug Records)

Full disclosure: I bought this short-player on the streets of Gainesville when I was in town once. I’m not sure how or why it came to be, but I made a deal for an interesting looking record, and I stand by that decision.
The UK’s Shrug records put out Shana David’s one and only release: four short sappy indie songs consisting solely of a girl’s voice, and a crappy Radio Shack keyboard. The lyrics are corny but cute, and the keyboard sounds like garbage in exactly the right way. This is very stripped down, extremely lo-fi one-person pop in the same way that so many others have tried, but for some reason it works. I know that it’s not very complicated or impressive and there really isn’t much that isn’t dumb on this record, but something about it is awesome. It’s possible that the songs written by a middle schooler, but somehow created and articulated by an adult are really what I’m after, even if it’s not always punk. There are a few points where this record could have been demos for 60’s girl groups, had synthesizers and crappy demos been the norm.
There’s certainly a second where you feel like you’re listening to a one-person version of The Unicorns, or even demos for an unreleased Blow record, but other than that it’s just kind of out-there music for weirdos and people that can laugh at dumb jokes. The last song is a very choice cover song, and I do believe I believe this young lady when she says, “One is the loneliest number…”



Last note: This 7” is hands-down, the heaviest record I own. 90 gram 7” or something like that. Feels like a platter.