Keep Shelly In Athens Now I’m Ready

Athens-based duo Keep Shelly In Athens have been churning out their idiosyncratic take on pop music since 2010, but 2015’s Now I’m Ready is only their second official LP. At eight songs and 45 minutes, the album strikes a concise, yet imposing figure, each individual effort comprised of enough peaks and valleys to bring the listener to the edge and back again. Lifted off by lead single “Fractals”, Now I’m Ready is not your typical indie effort, un-beholden to tempo and style, the album skips across genre tropes with ease, each track guided by producer RΠЯ’s singular aesthetic and vocalist Myrtha’s unmistakable crescendos.

And whether you’re locked into a long road trip, careening around a city or looking over the Mediterranean, Keep Shelly In Athens bring an arresting pathos to the proceedings, felt everywhere from the breakbeat-led madness of “Hollow Man” to the ever-building, hypnotic vocal qualities of “Now I’m Ready”. It’s only the duo’s second official LP, but considering their release history on outlets as diverse as Cascine, Forest Family and Planet Mu, it’s no surprise that their arrival on Friends of Friends is such an unabated success.

1. Fractals
2. Silent Rain
3. Now I'm Ready (featuring Ocean Hope)
4. Line 4 (Orange)
5. Benighted
6. Hollow Man
7. Nobody
8. Hunter

Early last year, Greek dreampop duo Keep Shelly in Athens announced that frontwoman Sarah P would be leaving the band. Given that they’d effectively lost half the band, it was reasonable to assume that the project would be ending. Instead, in November, the band remerged with a new song called “Fractals” and a mysterious new singer named Myrtha. Now, they’ve announced Myrtha’s first LP with the band, Now I’m Ready, out October 6th via Friends of Friends. Ahead of the release, KSiA shared the album’s title track featuring Corinth duo Ocean Hope.

“This is the track that named our new album,” the band tells Consequence of Sound. “We are very excited to say that we are indeed at the starting point of a new era for Keep Shelly in Athens.”

The plaintive song opens quietly, easing in with a synthesizer drone, before falling into a thick bass line. Myrtha’s vocals sound distant and powerful over the lush instrumentation, proclaiming proudly that “it’s a brand new goodbye.” The beats steadily pick up pace, transforming from a moody ballad to a dreamy anthem. It’s a new day for the band; after all the changes, it’s apparent that now they’re ready.