The album everything from before lives here is a 21-track full discography cassette featuring shn shn’s lush vocals, creative production, and experimental soundscapes, blending electronic textures with emotional depth.
The feeling of warmth and intimacy are powerful
To me when I listen to everything from before lives here the experience feels like this is more than a collection of single songs from her retrospective catalog. As somehow a portrait of the living and growing essence of Toronto’s Shanika Lewis-Waddell, better known as shn shn, there is an amazing blend of talents and enchanting presence. The album everything from before lives here is a 21-track full discography cassette featuring shn shn’s lush vocals, creative production, and experimental soundscapes, blending electronic textures with emotional depth. Included in this compilation are three EPs: structura (2020), e.strange.d (2021), and Form(s) (2023). Living in this place is an ambient electronic pop portrait of a person, the listener is as close to her as she is from the microphone. The feeling of warmth and intimacy are powerful.
Reflecting on their journey, shn shn shares, “This project began out of necessity—an urgent need to express the sounds and ideas living within me. Over the past four years, it has been a wild ride of learning, trial and error, mistakes, and magic. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has been a part of this, from collaborators to behind-the-scenes supporters who’ve helped me navigate the highs and lows of being an artist.”
The listening experience begins with the dark and introspective, “we could always start over” (5:33). Gently floating in a slow sway, guitar and atmospheric electronic effects. I love the brightness as she sings her way in. The beats form and are complex, the feeling continuously flows, sad and slow, but with subtle growing upbeat aspects. Now the beat is taking me over, I am overhearing voices of other people in the area talking to each other, the music fades and the cars drive by, I hear a motorcycle as I go under one more time.
A landscape with thunder drums off in the distance ::
Now with a silver thin horn, the next track is “growth” (3:54) and feels like I am pulling elements together to make a landscape with thunder drums off in the distance. The air flows back and forth, breezes getting stronger, the thunder booms way out there. I feel the gentle swaying forth and back, here shn shn is singing words with a synth symphony. The feeling keeps me swaying gently, I feel warm. Some words emerge, most the feeling is ethereal. She is rising in spirit, always gentle and beautiful.
The third track begins as chords, breathing and awakening, “first light” (4:45). These things take time, the light is coming but not so strong here yet. The stringed instrument keeps building, soon something has taken hold and we gain velocity. I love the choir of voices, a new classical guitar emerges, as we fade into the breathing chords. Here she sings as we rise, now it gets quiet and I think I hear a gentle kalimba and baby birds in the background. With a warm glow that fades in, “maladaptive daydreams” (2:34) emerge as deep bubbling refreshing water she sings, “Why don’t you stay here?” Soon the beat takes off, lots of elements including some hand played small percussion. She repeats the words in the same order with different pauses and repetition and the tempo makes me think we are traveling or spinning in a huge arc. I am ready to answer the question with an affirmation.
Now a dramatic or complex atmosphere fades in, “silk” (4:36), where she sings something about silk, an engaging knocking beat takes form as we hoover. As the steady beat makes steady knitted time, she sings some more. There are violins in the distance. Sure enough, the beat feels like silk and I dream of how it would be to find your way back to me. Eventually a single tone gets strong, “Marie – Remaining (shn shn remix)” (4:14) I feel a new awakening, a happy tempo, and joyful tones. An easy limping walk tempo. There are expanding elements joining into the mix, perfectly on the beat, an ambient pop song starts and sounds very nice, soon it coasts out. Time for a new delicate crystal verglas to fade in, “melt” (3:49). Taking to the keys she sings, her voice is close and she is troubled, she is singing her story, bubuh bum bubuh bum as crystal keys mix into shifting patterns and the beat builds. She sings in the weave, detditdeet…
From the void, shifting shades of modular hissing brings a gentle pleasing bouncing thump beat, “IAWIA” (4:01) is an existential meditation, a subdued and complex mantra. I love the layers and hidden whistle tones, the nice complex polyrhythms that shuffle along and flap a bit. Now we are taking form, she speaks reciting the lyrics. There are layers within her, a full mirror choir back there behind her somewhere, the music is describing motion plus poetics. I am swallowed by the layers of her voice, the new words, the new sustained patterns. I am who I am. I can’t help it, I don’t want to change it. Fade again into dreamland.
I might hear a proud organ with an orchestra, a dungeon boogie with chains, “divine” (3:33) comes at us full force, soulful and precise. Somewhere near here she recites the words describing the wondrous darkness of divine love, then shn shn rides in on a glorious heart. Silky low beats.
In a dark spooky air, keys in a shadow soaked cathedral I hear a choir humming, “Kilometre Club – The Marrow Thieves (shn shn rework)” (4:09) presents cool coiled danger and introspection, a percussion reverb echo beat, like a warm fidget, steady and passionate beating in my ear.
The spirits are understated and interesting ::
Bring the guitar, an exotic Mediterranean folk-dance style guitar, a nimble stand up bass, and extensive hand percussion. The track is titled “never say goodbye” (2:33) I am feeling moody-sad, and rich dimensionally. We are blessed with a wooden guitar with metal strings, she sings the words around and around. I hear the strum of a classical guitar, “strange states” (2:16) suggests subtle percussion under atmospheric tinkling and spirits flying. The spirits are understated and interesting, very light. It may be that the ghosts in on a breeze only breathe.
I love the sound of birds, “one after another” (4:41), this is like a cloud of electronic colors. I might hear a hand drum and that magical vocal presence, like an ethereal audio halo, never dense, always very light and breezy. A strand like gossamer, with a simple hand drum, soothing ghostly vocals, an enchanting melody, slow soothing changing easily faster and faster go the lyrics and instruments rise between the beats, and it all calms down and fades out. There are splashes of water somewhere. With wispy flits of bowed strings, “essence” (5:03) I might hear a guitar followed shortly by drum beat with high hat, the wispy flits sustain throughout. I hear a little choir of her voices mixed together, the story emerges in a delicate beautiful voice, “choo choo.”
With a gentle wooden guitar, odd electronics and singing, “descend into (with Ben McCarthy)” (3:39) leaning more and more, I hear two playful voices flowing back and forth in the sky, a collaboration changes the solo mind, this music feels dreamy and lovely, a male voice joins the flow effortlessly a natural blending of floating dream voices and ideas lingering out over up in the sky looking all around.
A monster in the dark calls, I hear strange voices with odd beats, a mantra, “Moonbean – I AM HOME (shn shn remix)” (2:50) lovely odd cast of stumbling zombies are mumbling something about, I don’t know, it seems very disturbing and I am afraid this won’t ever fade into the background. I love the buzzy instrumentals, simple and very well integrated. There are many different things going on here, the feeling is perfectly strange.
Now tentative strings seem “hollow” (3:46) and I am in a cave with a sharp echo. Everything takes time, the story is very intimate, delicate and loving, the beat comes in very late, I am feeling a jazzy heartbeat, this is my favorite track. Here shn shn creeps up singing delicately and I am feeling at home even in this dark grotto.
The sound of being lost with no hope, regret, sour memories, deeply tragic synth strings, “i didn’t mean to come back here” (3:54) leaves me feeling sad. Drifting along following the wandering notes that light the way. In the dark the beat comes and we dance or move more quickly than we were, we move about exploring casually with glances. I don’t know now why or why not.
I am in a new echoey cavern with strange reverb sparse tone patterns, “Tewksbury – BANDA MOUNTAIN (shn shn remix)” (4:04) and I feel the tempo picking up velocity while we are climbing and she sings, walking along. I feel the new elements loop into the flow while appearing to be still small and distant. There is a light ethereal hum or sigh singing as the tempo changes again and shn shn sings into the melody with echoes fading, until emerging into light from the dark, relaxing and happy, floating and “taking time” (4:08). At times shn shn sings and explains the story, slow and easy sharp details as we float along, I am feeling the easy soaring and gliding at great heights with no danger of falling, perfect to take time and breathe as we are easing out.
The final track begins with many sounds including what might be a felt mallet on glass, here she is vocalizing or is that the synth, “light breaks through” (3:48) always gathering into the beat which seems to be slowly quickening and climbing, she is singing the words in a round until the whole thing ends quickly, “Lately, I’ve really been focused on the idea of hope, and I hope this track resonates with you,” the next thing I see reads “we could always start over” and I am ready for that.
everything form before lives here. is available on Imaginary North. [Bandcamp]
