REANIMATION is the vision of Michael Shanahan. This solo project took root in 2006, but seeds were planted much earlier, during Shanahan's downtime between other music-world commitments. Since 1985, the music of REANIMATION and its forebears has resisted easy categorization by combining elements of psychedelia with progressive, experimental, alternative and pop rock.
Shanahan first made a small ripple in the indie world in 2011 with the REANIMATION debut GIANTS HIDE AMONG US. The self-produced album owed much to its experimental ancestors, with sometimes-eerie progressions and cyclical percussion themes, garnering favorable reviews and modest airplay.
Shanahan returned in 2014 with his strongest and most ambitious effort to date—the reflective, often dark and mesmerizing UNDER THE LAST TREE ON EARTH. These nine songs dig deep under the skin, taking the listener on a deep, emotional journey of self-exploration and discovery. Heavy and hypnotic, with expertly assembled textural grooves, the album is a more purposeful and focused result. Still, it remains true to the trademark REANIMATION use of thickly layered sounds and circular song structures. UNDER THE LAST TREE ON EARTH picks the scabs off of old wounds, confronts new struggles, and attempts to heal, exposing tension-filled themes that examine isolation, despondency, fear, regret and love. The songs weave, dance and stomp through a revealing look inside a heart and mind that teeters on the brink of exhaustion but somehow clings to never-ending hope.
In past lives, Shanahan has collaborated on recordings with Washington, DC's Blue Sausage Infant (Flight of the Solstice Queens, 2010; Negative Space, 2011). Before REANIMATION, Shanahan co-founded the Chicago-based alt-rock trio Every Part of the Animal (EPOTA) in 1988, with bassist/vocalist Brad Allen and guitarist/vocalist Bob Bartodziej. EPOTA eventually became a duo (Shanahan/Allen) and released two CDs, Life Imitates Art (1993) and Civilization [Spirit] (1999). Before EPOTA, Shanahan also co-founded Quixotic, with Mark Watson, in 1985. That partnership produced several cassette releases and one CD release, Leap of Faith (1996). With REANIMATION, Shanahan melds these influences into a unique experience based on groove, space, atmospherics and tension. The sound of REANIMATION builds on repetitive structures with vocals, drums and percussion, guitars, bass, synthesizers, violin and other instruments, occasionally revisiting the verse/chorus textbook.
Michael Shanahan: vocals, drums & percussion, electric and acoustic guitars & effects, bass, piano, synths, mridangam, violin, tin whistle, Chinese zither, recorder, e-bowed zither, harmonica, 10’ corrugated perforated drain pipe, aluminum can and kalimba
Shanahan first made a small ripple in the indie world in 2011 with the REANIMATION debut GIANTS HIDE AMONG US. The self-produced album owed much to its experimental ancestors, with sometimes-eerie progressions and cyclical percussion themes, garnering favorable reviews and modest airplay.
Shanahan returned in 2014 with his strongest and most ambitious effort to date—the reflective, often dark and mesmerizing UNDER THE LAST TREE ON EARTH. These nine songs dig deep under the skin, taking the listener on a deep, emotional journey of self-exploration and discovery. Heavy and hypnotic, with expertly assembled textural grooves, the album is a more purposeful and focused result. Still, it remains true to the trademark REANIMATION use of thickly layered sounds and circular song structures. UNDER THE LAST TREE ON EARTH picks the scabs off of old wounds, confronts new struggles, and attempts to heal, exposing tension-filled themes that examine isolation, despondency, fear, regret and love. The songs weave, dance and stomp through a revealing look inside a heart and mind that teeters on the brink of exhaustion but somehow clings to never-ending hope.
In past lives, Shanahan has collaborated on recordings with Washington, DC's Blue Sausage Infant (Flight of the Solstice Queens, 2010; Negative Space, 2011). Before REANIMATION, Shanahan co-founded the Chicago-based alt-rock trio Every Part of the Animal (EPOTA) in 1988, with bassist/vocalist Brad Allen and guitarist/vocalist Bob Bartodziej. EPOTA eventually became a duo (Shanahan/Allen) and released two CDs, Life Imitates Art (1993) and Civilization [Spirit] (1999). Before EPOTA, Shanahan also co-founded Quixotic, with Mark Watson, in 1985. That partnership produced several cassette releases and one CD release, Leap of Faith (1996). With REANIMATION, Shanahan melds these influences into a unique experience based on groove, space, atmospherics and tension. The sound of REANIMATION builds on repetitive structures with vocals, drums and percussion, guitars, bass, synthesizers, violin and other instruments, occasionally revisiting the verse/chorus textbook.
Michael Shanahan: vocals, drums & percussion, electric and acoustic guitars & effects, bass, piano, synths, mridangam, violin, tin whistle, Chinese zither, recorder, e-bowed zither, harmonica, 10’ corrugated perforated drain pipe, aluminum can and kalimba
