Shapes and Sizes have a searching, curious sound-- their best songs tend to wander off on tangents, or excitedly push at their own boundaries. This excitable, shape-shifting quality is great for an arty rock band, but the drawback has been that their style has had a destabilizing effect on their albums, which have a clearly defined aesthetic, but often no sense of center.
Part of the problem has been that Shapes and Sizes have two very different lead vocalists-- the boldly expressive Caila Thompson-Hannant, and Rory Seydel, who sings with a timid, boyish affect. Unlike some bands with multiple vocalists, Thompson-Hannant and Seydel's voices do not complement each other well, and they often sound like they just belong in different bands. This issue has been mitigated somewhat on the group's third album, Candle to Your Eyes, in which Thompson-Hannant has taken on a more dominant presence, singing lead on seven of the record's nine tracks. Seydel still doesn't quite work as her foil, but his vocal performance has improved greatly, or at least enough that his shortcomings are no longer a distraction.
With Thompson-Hannant serving as an anchor, Candle to Your Eyes is far more consistent and distinct than the two albums that proceeded it. The group still sounds restless and adventurous, but they've reined in their expansive tendencies to focus on a sort of oddball variation on funk. It's a surprising move-- their older songs were never especially groovy or sexy-- but it suits Thompson-Hannant well, allowing her commanding, Corin Tucker-ish voice to take on a soulful, seductive quality. "Too Late For Dancing" and "Time Has Practically Stopped", the album's two best tracks, synthesize art-rock and R&B in a way that sounds fresh and distinct. They're exploring an aesthetic zone not too far off from where Dirty Projectors went with "Stillness Is the Move", but their guitar style is heavier on texture and atmosphere, and the vibe is more overtly sexual.
As can be expected from this bunch, they don't linger for too long on the their grooves, but they do maintain an airy, sensual tone throughout the album. It's easily their most cohesive effort, and they've never sounded more confident. They play as a thoughtful ensemble, emphasizing negative space and avoiding clutter even when they rock out. The group has a way of getting the most out of an interesting sound-- the atonal, no-wave guitar chimes on "Time Has Practically Stopped", the brittle piano notes on "Tell Your Mum", the uneasy keyboard drone on "The Hit Parade"-- but those details can be more memorable than the overall composition. There is still plenty of room for this band to grow in terms of song craft, but they've certainly found an interesting niche for themselves that they would be wise to further explore and refine in the future.
