Album Review: Painfully Shia - s/t (self-released, 2010) While electropop seems to be having a resurgence in the mainstream, most were taken by surprise with the release of the debut album from Painfully Shia, the one-man bedroom pop project of A-list actor Shia LaBeouf. Recorded during the downtime in between the filming of huge Hollywood blockbusters such as Transformers, the self-titled record shows a few sides of the actor that audiences don’t typically see on the silver screen: the emotional, lovelorn and deeply religious. LaBeouf sings in the heavily auto-tuned style one would expect to hear from bands like hellogoodbye and Owl City, overemphasizing the quirks in his delivery by singing in falsetto. Perhaps the actor’s deep voice wouldn’t suit lyrics like “I load her picture on my cell phone/pretend it’s her as I hug real tight/I’m so tired of feeling alone” on the song “Teddybear.” While some critics could dismiss these lyrics as juvenile, it somehow works over the poppy Postal Service-esque Casiotone melodies that LaBeouf “played all by himself,” as noted in the liner notes. We also get a sense of LaBeouf’s religious beliefs with songs like “Angel of Los Angeles,” where he sings “take me on your wings and fly me/to wherever home is supposed to be.” In “Jesus,” he sings “Recess time was Jesus time/Christ was my only friend.” But unlike his musical counterparts, don’t think this a record for the kiddies. While groups like Owl City avoid letting even the slightest risky idea emerge, LaBeouf goes right for the jugular, almost literally. About half way through the album, things take a sharp turn with the song “I Cut Myself Just To Feel Something (And You Should To).” In the eight-minute song, he chants “knife in my skin/every time I do it/it goes deeper in” repeatedly over an ominous drum beat. In the album’s liner notes he mentions that the song is dedicated to ex-girlfriend China Brezner. Despite his celebrity, his MySpace profile shows that he will be touring several all-ages venues, youth centers, libraries and Elks Clubs in the coming months. If you want to see a multi-talented artist baring his soul, you should definitely try to catch him live. If you can’t, this album is a real treat and can be ordered off of his website. It’s deeply telling that someone who is already living under a microscope still has emotions to bare to the world, but Painfully Shia doesn’t hold back. MP3: Painfully Shia ”A Million Eskimo Kisses”(zSHARE)Buy Painfully Shia

Album Review:

Painfully Shia - s/t (self-released, 2010)

While electropop seems to be having a resurgence in the mainstream, most were taken by surprise with the release of the debut album from Painfully Shia, the one-man bedroom pop project of A-list actor Shia LaBeouf. Recorded during the downtime in between the filming of huge Hollywood blockbusters such as Transformers, the self-titled record shows a few sides of the actor that audiences don’t typically see on the silver screen: the emotional, lovelorn and deeply religious.

LaBeouf sings in the heavily auto-tuned style one would expect to hear from bands like hellogoodbye and Owl City, overemphasizing the quirks in his delivery by singing in falsetto. Perhaps the actor’s deep voice wouldn’t suit lyrics like “I load her picture on my cell phone/pretend it’s her as I hug real tight/I’m so tired of feeling alone” on the song “Teddybear.” While some critics could dismiss these lyrics as juvenile, it somehow works over the poppy Postal Service-esque Casiotone melodies that LaBeouf “played all by himself,” as noted in the liner notes.

We also get a sense of LaBeouf’s religious beliefs with songs like “Angel of Los Angeles,” where he sings “take me on your wings and fly me/to wherever home is supposed to be.” In “Jesus,” he sings “Recess time was Jesus time/Christ was my only friend.”

But unlike his musical counterparts, don’t think this a record for the kiddies. While groups like Owl City avoid letting even the slightest risky idea emerge, LaBeouf goes right for the jugular, almost literally. About half way through the album, things take a sharp turn with the song “I Cut Myself Just To Feel Something (And You Should To).” In the eight-minute song, he chants “knife in my skin/every time I do it/it goes deeper in” repeatedly over an ominous drum beat. In the album’s liner notes he mentions that the song is dedicated to ex-girlfriend China Brezner.

Despite his celebrity, his MySpace profile shows that he will be touring several all-ages venues, youth centers, libraries and Elks Clubs in the coming months. If you want to see a multi-talented artist baring his soul, you should definitely try to catch him live. If you can’t, this album is a real treat and can be ordered off of his website. It’s deeply telling that someone who is already living under a microscope still has emotions to bare to the world, but Painfully Shia doesn’t hold back.

MP3: Painfully Shia ”A Million Eskimo Kisses”(zSHARE)
Buy Painfully Shia