Sleep Talk
(1-2-3-4 Go! Records)
(out of 5)

I grew up hearing my mom singing Tina Turner songs while she vacuumed parallel lines into the ugly orange carpet of our living room in her bra and pantyhose. I love-love-loved it when Auntie Roach would sing along to her scratchy Tammy Wynette/Lee Ann Womack/Tanya Tucker records while we were snippin' beans or shuckin' yellow corn to eat at summer family barbecues. Later, in college, I bought Hole's Live Through This on cassette and would play it every day in my car on the way to school—wailing along, way too loud, to every song and every last word. These were voices of real life—sung by women who knew about human reality—about empathy, heartache, and triumph. Nowadays, I fear for girls. Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, errrr... Rebecca Black? They're colder and more plastic than a million headless Barbie dolls. Shannon Shaw, on the other hand, has a voice. You can hear the truth—the hopes and dreams, the highs and lows—in every one of the 12 tracks on Sleep Talk. Her vocals, electric and crackling, paired with Clam Cody Blanchard's bubblegum retro croon make for a ballad unsung by anyone else these days. Sure, it's the "new oldies" sound (see also: Nobunny, Hunx and His Punx, and older cousins the Mummies, the Trashwomen, and the Bobbyteens) that's becoming more and more popular—but Shaw's voice will always set the Clams' stuff apart. Dig in, and you'll be singing "Oooga boooga, baby" into your vacuum cleaner before you even realize what you're doing.