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Arts and Culture
Music

Gothic Post Punk Meets Hitchcock's Bomb Theory

Vancouver's Shi Yi builds suspense the old fashioned way.

Alex Hudson 18 Nov 2010TheTyee.ca

Alex Hudson writes for various music publications and runs a blog called Chipped Hip.
Vancouver band Shi Yi
Shi Yi is known for making playful cameos in its own promo pics.

Alfred Hitchcock was a master of horror because he understood one important thing about the human psyche: that we find slow-building suspense way scarier than any amount of blood and gore.

Vancouver's Shi Yi takes a similar approach when it comes to crafting spine-tingling rock. On the band's self-titled debut album, the mood never rises above a quiet simmer, always hinting at a violent crescendo that doesn't arrive. Throughout the collection's 10 songs (which last just 26 minutes), singer/drummer Erika Petro gasps and coos, pounding out slow but heavy beats while guitarist Scott Russell lays down a creepy mix of minor chords and echoing atmospherics.

You can probably figure out what the songs sound like from the titles alone: "Slither" is based around spaghetti western-style guitar and a skulking drum pattern that might have been lifted from the Jesus and Mary Chain; "Bed Bug Eyes" matches Petro's husky purr with a tumbling beat that keeps the listener perpetually off-balance; the tension on "Devil's Mountain" is practically heart-stopping, as it rides a start-stop rhythm for over four minutes without ever cutting loose.

These quietly minimal arrangements achieve a far more unsettling result than screaming or noisy distortion could accomplish. The album was recorded at Blue Wave Studio in Vancouver, but judging by the sound, you'd probably guess that it was captured in the cabin from The Blair Witch Project.

Shi Yi has a mysterious image to match its otherworldly sound. Photos of Petro and Russell are scarce, as the group's MySpace includes a few blurry live shots plus one shadowy press picture. And then there's the album cover: a sinister pair of eyes peering through a dark haze of smoke.

Stay tuned to MySpace for show announcements, and head to Bandcamp to download the self-titled album (or order a copy on vinyl). But you should be warned: you'll want to check the closet and have a nightlight handy before you put Shi Yi on your turntable. [Tyee]

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