New Music: Shock Corridor – Sheet Metal

Sheet Metal meets some of the criteria for being called a duet, but it’s far from a power ballad or disco pop.

I’m not sure it could even be called an indie song, because although the vocals fit the bill, it’s their uncertainty underlying them – and in the arrangement – that shifts Sheet Metal into more opaque terrain.

The rhythm section is spectral, giving the song much of the air of despondency that drifts over the scene, as if it were a soundtrack to an empty town in an Italian Western. Brass and violin push that desolate narrative, and the vocals seem to celebrate love but never really together, as if that love were just out of reach.

If you’re a fan of Tindersticks, Mercury Rev, or Lambchop, you’ll find yourself at home in Sheet Metal; however, there is plenty in the unspoken story of the track to keep fans of inventive indie/rock music enthralled.

“Sheet Metal is our take on a duet,” says the band. “It was inspired by looking out of train windows while travelling overseas and the feeling of leaving things unsaid with the people you leave behind. It is a quieter, more restrained track that tries to capture those fleeting glimpses into other lives as they pass by.”

Adds Emily Hope about the accompanying video, which she directed: “Sheet Metal is about disconnection, being too cold to engage. We wanted to capture that while still having fun. Saskia (costume designer) envisioned a femme, playful video, and despite nerves about the Shock Corridor brand, we built toward a final image of two helmeted lovers charging at each other, their messy, impossible embrace blocked by sheet metal.”

Find out more about Melbourne-based sextet Shock Corridor on Instagram. You can listen to more music from the band on Spotify, and Sheet Metal can be downloaded on Bandcamp.