Shepherds: Exit Youth

Muckman

Shepherds’ debut album, Exit Youth, takes shape as a beautifully mixed bag of sorts. The synth rock pastiche “Reverie” fades into the harsh sound collage of “Drudgery.” Sprinkled in amid these experimental pieces is a dose of Dinosaur Jr.-style guitar rock laced with touches of soul and R&B shining through in album highlights “Never Been” and “Brevity.” This eclectic mix finds common ground in guitarist and singer Jonathan Merenivitch’s jumbled approach to coherent story telling. The album’s theme: Realizing in your late 20s that, even though you have an artistic platform, youthful dreams of ditching your day job and pursuing your passion full time are revealing themselves as a cruel joke. Written over a three-year period, Exit Youth is about confronting economic and emotional recessions through healthy, creative means. ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆