NYC Scene Report – Outer Shapes, Two-Man Giant Squid, & Endearments

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Outer Shapes moving FORWARD BACKWARD, Two-Man Giant Squid telling us “love is a skill like painting or taxidermy,” and Endearments longing for “Marianne.”

* Outer Shapes are the out of this world duo of Laura Shkouratoff and C Santos. The NYC-based couple records, and produces all of their songs in their home studio, and also draws and animates their music videos, the latest of which is for their new song, “SPOONFED.”

The genre blending “SPOONFED” is off the band’s just-released EP, FORWARD BACKWARD (and when I say just-released, I mean it came out today!). Laura discussed the project in a statement, saying, “As we created this EP I was resisting a deep change in my life, constantly yearning for the pain of the past as a form of resistance to the pain that awaited me in my daily life. FORWARD BACKWARD is about that tension, about re-experiencing difficult times from the past in order to sit in a feeling before being ready to move forward.”

C Santos says that when it comes to “SPOONFED,” “The energy and frustration bottled in this song is palpable through the speakers.”

Click play, and get “SPOONFED” by Outer Shapes.

* Countless artists have mused on the concept of love, and Brooklyn-based rockers Two-Man Giant Squid have their own unique take on the emotion with their latest single, “love is a skill like painting or taxidermy.”

The song will be the A-side of their upcoming 7” vinyl, A Band in the Post-Modern World, due out March 24th via Mint 400/Trash Casual, and the inspiration for love-themed tune came from frontman Mitchell Vinkour’s love for his wife, the band’s synth player, Sam Borges.

“I was writing this song alongside my vows leading up to the wedding,” Vinkour said in a statement, “It themes heavily on love being the thing that makes you most afraid of death – ‘All I want is to save you from the golden clock on my door.’”

He continued, adding, “It’s a dreamy track with a poignant message that love is something you need to work at – ‘Love is a skill, it’s not a rose or a plant, love is the gardener, love is the hand …’”

Click play on “love is a skill like painting or taxidermy,” and feel the love of Two-Man Giant Squid.

* Endearments released their debut album, An Always Open Door, last week via Trash Casual, the third single off of which is “Marianne.”

Who is Marianne? Well, it’s less of a “who” and more of a “what.”

Frontman Kevin Marksson explained the song in a statement, saying, “’Marianne’ is about the uncertain and vulnerable moments at the beginning of a new relationship. It’s a song about longing for someone who is far away, physically and emotionally, and what it takes to break down those barriers.”

He continued, adding that visually, “We wanted the music video to emphasize that metaphor, with the band playing in a liminal place, bright and surreal, before the mirrors that are reflecting us literally shatter.”

A fantastic indie rock song, “Marianne” is as relatable as it is catchy. We’ve all had at least one “Marianne,” so click play, and remember that feeling.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.