Morrow vs. Hajduch

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Keep Shelly in Athens’ Campus Martius EP

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Keep Shelly in Athens: Campus MartiusKeep Shelly in Athens: Campus Martius EP (Planet Mu, 12/5/11)

Keep Shelly in Athens: “Campus Martius”

[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/KSIA_Campus_Martius.mp3|titles=Keep Shelly in Athens: “Campus Martius”]

Morrow: Hailing from Athens, Greece, Keep Shelly in Athens (whose name is a play on the Grecian suburb Kypseli) is a down-tempo/chill-wave electronic two-piece that has garnered steady ‘Net buzz since last year. The hype, to this point, might be a tad undeserved, but the duo’s recent In Love With Dusk EP demonstrated potential across a spate of digitized genres, even if it was heavy on the Ibiza influence.

The major appeal here is the interplay between singer Sarah P and producer RPR (mysterious!), whose styles seem to be coming into their own. With Campus Martius, the duo’s first release on Planet Mu, there’s less of the beach-y nightlife and ’80s cheese; instead, there’s an urban, industrialized, and ambient vibe to better fit Sarah’s elongated and reverberated vocals.