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British Columbia-based quartet Shapes and Sizes engage directly with abuse, yearning, whimsy, catharsis, nihilism and all other manner of horrible and gorgeous things. If the songs weren’t so intricately designed, you’d think they were made up on the spot. They are extremely complicated and erratic, zigzagging through new structures chaotically in such a way as to purposefully avoid a natural fit between sections, which, by the way, are exceptionally brief. Split Lips, Winning Hips, a Shiner is as much visceral as it is adorable. Screeching guitars and wailing drums coalesce with female vocals and melodies in major keys. Few other bands can paradoxically mix beauty and atonality. Listeners will probably be reminded of Deerhoof, another band that dwells in the overlap of contradictions. Indeed, this album is a manifesto of total opposites, all occurring concomitantly, and it is every bit as entertaining as it is ambitious.
