Words by Steve Stevens
Brighton's Shady Baby have signed to illustrious label Nice Swan Records in the wake of the city's own Great Escape Festival, and step onto the scene with debut single 'Come To Life'.
Shady Baby are the musical project of singer Sam Leaver, who began making his own brand of angst-ridden pop during the height of lockdown where songs were formed out of frustration whilst locked in his bedroom. Madchester, Britpop and Dr John Cooper Clarke influenced, the band make good use of that era's 'wall-of-sound' approach in 'Come To Life', a swaggering and bombastic tune that references the parka-clad greats but comes into its own with a playfulness and more densely lyrical style.
Leaver says "‘Come To Life’ is an angry response to feeling like people treated you like shit but you let them get away with it. Feeling both angry at them but also at yourself for letting it happen.”
Having approached Brighton-based producer Theo Verney (English Teacher, FEET, FUR, Egyptian Blue, TRAAMS etc) with his early demos, Leaver and Verney instantly formed a musical bond that has seen them work closely together in the studio ever since, and Verney has helped hone the exciting sound of the debut Shady Baby cuts.
Shady Baby join the likes of Deadletter, Prima Queen and Saloon Dion in the second run of Nice Swan's wildly succesful 'Introduces...' series.
Listen to 'Come To life'
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