ABOUT REANIMATION

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 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.

In 2014, Shanahan released the ambitious UNDER THE LAST TREE ON EARTH. Heavy and hypnotic, with expertly assembled textural grooves, the album was more focused, remaining true to the trademark REANIMATION use of thickly layered sounds and circular song structures.

THE GHOST OF THE MUSE was released in 2017 to positive reviews. The album was a more refined, progressive and atmospheric offering that pulled in elements of psychedelic rock, indie, shoegaze, trance, and even ambient touches.

Michael Shanahan returns in 2021 with the first REANIMATION release in nearly four years. A FEAR OF FALLING is the most powerful and purposeful result yet. Themes delve deep into loss, inner struggles, memories and regret, attempting to exorcise those demons. Shanahan delivers reflective, introspective lyrics with power and emotion, while heavy, dark, hypnotic, cyclical arrangements dance and build beneath the surface.

In past lives, Shanahan has collaborated on recordings with Washington, DC’s Blue Sausage Infant (Flight of the Solstice Queens, 2010; Negative Space, 2011) along with California-based Todd Parker and the Witches (Futuretripper, 2018).

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, atmosphere and tension.