Keep Shelly in Athens is a band with an outlandish name and an intentionally mysterious persona. But although you might expect a band with such a ridiculous moniker to be irritatingly elitist, if you close your eyes and play their new EP, In Love With Dusk, you will quickly change your mind.
The album starts off with 20 minutes of enveloping, atmospheric music that will make you think that you are, in fact, falling in love with dusk. From the very beginning, it is apparent that this Grecian duo understands better than most bands how to name its record appropriately.
In Love With Dusk is comprised of six songs that perfectly capture that dark end of twilight. Listeners can dim the lights as Keep Shelly in Athens’s downtempo groove drifts effortlessly from each slow, churning beat into the next sprawling vibe. Each song folds smoothly into itself, then expands once again before closing with a gentle, satisfying calm.
Keep Shelly in Athens’ sound is a little titillating, a little strange, a little naked, and, above all, very mellow. “Fokionos Negri Street” offers the perfect soundtrack to a slow romance, and “Cremonia Memories” plays to the tune of a couple getting lost together on a dance floor. While “Don’t Be Afraid” attempts to inspire fear with a peculiar arrangement of tones, “In Love With Dusk” relieves that anxiety like the carefree end to a rough day.
Keep Shelly in Athens has perfectly encapsulated the gentle mindset of nightfall on In Love With Dusk. The EP slowly crawls towards darkness and basks in the possibility of an intimate encounter before sunrise. This is a band to keep an eye on, with the hope that they will reveal a few more secrets of the night whenever they appear next.
Voice’s Choices: “Don’t Be Afraid,” “Cremonia”
