Energetic Emotions Conjure Sheer Attitude on Products Band’s “Shell Text”

Submerging into a state of recollection, Minneapolis-based Products Band shifts into nostalgia through lustrous riffs and dreamy conversation on “Shell Text,” the opener to their sophomore album ‘Some Sudden Weather.’

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Stream: “Shell Text” – Products Band

The ocean is vast and mysterious, forming an entity in itself. It provides an urge to discover and, along the shoreline, a place to yearn.

In its therapeutic ways, it can aid in piecing together the positives and negatives in life. In “Shell Text,” Products Band force us to remember the ebb and flow of a constant and unnerving thought process.

Alex Hanson and Jo Kellen, each on guitar and vocals, banter, “And then the voice rips through the phone. Did you forget? Where does it go? When will it leave my heart alone? Holding my breath diving below in the pummeling undertow.” It creates a feeling of being pushed into a decision you are not quite sure about, tugging you right and left as if you were inside the crest of a wave before it crashes. Right as Jo Kellen stops punctuating, “Did I get it, what I wanted? Did I feel how you meant it?” the guitar starts droning in free fall with drum fills that soak in your chest with concern. There is an impending sense of unease, but the returning animated riff keeps it at bay.

Some Sudden Weather - Products Band — Products Band’s sophomore album ‘Some Sudden Weather,’ released October 20, 2023 via Sudden Brass Records

Jo Kellen, Alex Hanson, Jack Woolsey, and Konner Johnson cultivate a sound that encapsulates the essential parts of indie sleaze, an iconic era in the early 2000s to mid-2010s where culture collectively shifted into nostalgic tendencies with music and fashion.

It was a time to let go and dance with a certain feeling of freedom.Nothing was more important than being packed into a tiny venue, sweaty bodies pressed up against one another, and feeling the onset of euphoria when that familiar song you love starts to play. It was a culmination of the carefree style of the ’70s and the neon revival of the ’80s that expanded genres and struck the music scene with acts like The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, and MGMT. I was lucky enough to experience such a golden era in my youth, and often find myself reflecting while listening to Product Band’s various melodies.

The buoyancy of the drums guides the song through the streets of downtown Minneapolis like it was the busy Lexington Ave in NYC. The tempo becomes your walking pattern as it increasingly feels heavier with every step on the bustling sidewalk. The bright, sparkling notes of the guitar lighten the mood with a sense of bliss. Suddenly, you are back in the town you grew up in with your sunglasses on, flicking a cigarette on the sidewalk, and a notification popping up on your phone, “Did you forget?”

2018 saw Products Band first release their debut EP On the Dotted Line, which was full of genuine, unfiltered garage rock. A solid nineteen-minute-long grab-bag of gritty guitar riffs and spoken demands directed at the listener. That was followed by their debut album Pink Puma in 2021.

**With Some Sudden Weather, Products Band have stuck with their unique sound and chatty lyricism through magical riffs and stomping drums.**

“Shell Text” is a standout feat homing in on a world where everything can be lost at sea, yet still tethered together through the sometimes simplistic and various ways of communicating challenging emotions. “Shell Text” is a fantastic opening track on their most recent album and we are eagerly awaiting to hear what Products Band holds in reserve for us in the coming years.

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