Shiny Toy Guns – [Album]

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Wednesday, 17 December 2008

After three versions of We Are Pilots, Shiny Toy Guns have finally released their latest in electronic/dance, Season Of Poison.

First things first, a new singer. Sisely Treasure has stepped into the shoes of Shiny Toy Guns' familiar frontface, Carah Faye Charnow. Though replacing a vocalist can transform a band significantly, both behind the scenes and in the spotlight, Treasure is a fine fit who has openly brought her own techniques to the table; an admirable balance between poise and grit. This may seem surprising given the fact that Treasure appeared on the reality show The Pussycat Dolls, but she was a finalist for a reason and it’s evident that her cards have fallen into place after all.

Despite the fact that Treasure is indeed succeeding with her sugary yet sometimes poignant vocals, I personally don’t think Season Of Poison is anything to write home about. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not terrible or completely intolerable, but it just didn’t feed my ears the way I expected it to. This album is all over the place and just when you think you’re getting used to the tracks and their lack of formula the next song starts, leaving you feeling more lost than ever.

The album starts off with “When Did This Storm Begin,” a promising opener that leads to…a fair amount of perplexity as the second track, “Money For That,” has a total indie rock feel to it. It totally comes out of nowhere. It’s just not what you expect to hear after the evocative and engaging air of the first track.

To make things more puzzling, “Ghost Town” seems as if it was inspired by Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” with Treasure’s unripe cheerleader-like chanting. “Ricochet” has a bit more of an edge, and at some points it sounds rather Death From Above-ish, but again, nothing distinctive here. At this point, I was still scratching my head while trying to figure out what STG was trying to say with this album.

On the flip side, “I Owe You A Love Song” presents a much more collective and innovative melody with its upbeat yet sweet 80s pop sound. This song pretty much acts like the light at the end of the tunnel—making you think something is coming of this album—but then "Poison" takes you in a totally different direction with its bewildering yet appealing resonance.

In the end, what this album really lacks is consistency and formula. I’ve made mixed tapes with a better formula than this album, but perhaps it takes a true Shiny Toy Guns fan to appreciate the scatteredness of it all. Nevertheless, the Shiny Toy Guns fans I know personally have had nothing but good things to say about Season Of Poison. Perhaps as an outsider I just don’t get it.