Prism Shores - Out From Underneath
Meritorio Records
Released on January 17th, 2025
Do you remember that feeling - at 17 or 18 years old, sitting in your bedroom with a mixtape or maybe a CD burned by a friend or lifted from HMV, and suddenly a song you’d never heard before came on that lifted you out of all your teenage indignation and insecurity and made you feel for a moment that somehow things fit into place? That you weren’t alone in these big big feelings you carried? Do you remember that moment? Do you remember throwing that song on repeat ad nauseam just in hopes of replicating that feeling? I can’t quite explain, and I mean it in the most complementary way, but that’s the feeling that Prism Shores have managed to capture on their latest release, Out From Underneath. Released January 17 on Meritorio Records, Out From Underneath is a record that harkens back, for me, to a nostalgic (even if only mythical) golden age of alternative music. While still fresh and modern, it stirs up pre-streaming era feelings, before emotional music became emo, and carries a really lovely innocence.
“Jangly” is maybe an over-used descriptor in the indie-rock biosphere, but Prism Shores jangle with the best of them, as they draw from shoegaze, britpop, and other early indie influences. Along with The Montreal quartet’s self-claimed C86 lineage, Out From Underneath also contains notes of new wave, 90s alternative, emo, and garage rock, among others - I pick up hints of bands like The Martinis, Sunny Day Real Estate, Pavement, and The Cure. Capturing a live-feeling rawness, the album is nicely layered with both crisp and fuzzed up guitars while tasteful synths and added instrumentation provide lushness and depth.
Thematically, Out From Underneath “tackles young adult ennui and the adjustment of settling in an unfamiliar city, detailing the growing pains experienced during a time of upheaval” (as per their bandcamp page). And while contemplative and full of longing - even moments of melancholy - it’s not an album that feels solipsistic or that takes itself too seriously. It is shoe-gazey without feeling navel-gazey. Much of the album is up-tempo and bouncy, and even the more introspective tracks are melodic and catchy, making for a record that is very accessible. With emotional weight that is buoyed by playfulness and dancey experimentation, Out From Underneath is an album that is both poignant and hopeful. Throw on your headphones, close the bedroom door, and get transported by this gem of a record - a breath of cathartic fresh air that simultaneously pulls you both inward and up and out of yourself.
- Chris Lammiman