Chanel Beads Embarrassed Dog (2024)
Do dogs get embarrassed? That depends on their upbringing and on what they’ve been taught not to do by their human friends. Canine pedagogy aside, oxymorons and ambiguous song titles are perennially en vogue for the up-and-coming Brooklyn-based band Chanel Beads.
Active since 2018, Chanel Beads are an all-American force in experimental pop-rock that started catching on after musicians Shane Lavers and Maya Collette moved from Seattle to New York in 2021. They've been making amorphous waves in alt-rock/electronic circles with their unique musical style, which transcends expectations, utilizing multi-track instrumentation, unconventional song structures and beguiling lyrics accompanied by live violin from their friend Zachary Paul.
It's hard to pin down the sound of Chanel Beads genre-wise, and that's intentional according to the band. Androgynous high/low octave vocals and uncanny lyrics delve into themes of "liminality, grief and the inconsistency of memory." Every track on Your Day Will Come is worthy of mention, "Police Scanner" and "Idea June" being two particularly enthralling listens—but we'll home in on "Embarrassed Dog" today, simply because it goes hard.
At just under two minutes, this is the perfect ambient banger for endless bedroom looping. Muffled drums and Lavers' plucky guitar build pace until a musical hook sweeps into a crescendo with the lyrical verse, "Want to see myself / Unafraid / Funny got a problem with me / I don't feel the same / I was just a child / Peace symbol on your grave / Reckoning the past moves closer every day". With such emotions at play, music is well and truly alive in New York City.
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