ECCE SHNAK manifests avant geniality on debut ‘Shadows Grow Fangs’ EP
07 February 2025
Newsdesk
The time has come for the next chapter in Ecce Shnak’s musical odyssey – today sees the release of their debut 'Shadows Grow Fangs' EP via Record Man, Records, a brilliant eclectic collection of 5 remarkably different (and mainly fun) compositions. The band has also unveiled an intriguing new video for the title track.
Comprised of David Roush as songwriter, bassist and lead vocalist, Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums), Ecce Shnak subverts notions of style, playfully but reverently embracing multiple forms across the spectrum, while addressing weighty themes and notable trivia with striking articulacy.
Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci at the Art Farm (NY), this EP was mixed by Nicholas Vernhes (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Wild Nothing, The War on Drugs) and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Greg Calbi (John Lennon, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Todd Rundgren).
Ecce Shnak, a captivating ensemble with an incredible gift for fusing musical genres that would otherwise seem incompatible - and doing so with playful irreverence. Their thought-provoking lyrics delve into profound subjects and intriguing minutiae, delivered with remarkable clarity. In the lead-up to this release, the band has shared a highly animated string of 3 songs, each very different than each other and all of them fabulous.
About the title track, David Roush explains, “Though we’re just releasing it now, the song 'Shadows Grow Fangs' is around 15 years old. I started writing it before I had even committed to a life as a musician, when I was a mere 25-years-old living and working in South Philadelphia, thinking I would become a psychotherapist someday. “Shadows Grow Fangs” is about the tragic misunderstandings of ourselves, other people, and everybody’s wants and needs in those horrifying moments in which we feel abandoned and threatened. Tragically, sometimes people alienate ourselves from one another precisely when we need each other most. Worse still, sometimes we alienate ourselves from each other precisely when we could be of greatest help to one another.”
He adds, "The terrifying “shadows” of abandonment and the perils of conscious life “grow fangs” of merciless resentment, revenge, nihilism, and gross misanthropy. When we chomp each other in this state, we chomp ourselves, too. Maybe that was our point all along, but how could we know either way? We are terrified and confused. To be sure, a state of terror and confusion is rarely a state that gives rise to our best selves, but it is a state we often find ourselves in! It’s a hard to state avoid, as a human being anyway. How do we avoid this jackassery? This is not a bitter rhetorical question. It is a genuine moral challenge, and one of the basic moral challenges of a human life."
'Shadows Grow Fangs' is available from fine music platforms – take your pick here. Their EP release show will take place on February 26 at the Red Pavilion in New York.
