Album review: 'Ratchet' by Shamir is perfect for a dance party, or a mood lift

House music, or music that gets you to move, has largely become the preserve of DJs who rely on a hit single to fill stadiums with young, throbbing bodies. After all, tours are the most lucrative way to make money today, and a DJ set is usually made up of original tracks, remixes of pop hits and hits from other mega DJ’s. As a result, the album is given short shrift, with a focus on a steady drop of singles. [caption id=“attachment_2741888” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  album cover for ‘Ratchet’ by Shamir[/caption] Shamir Bailey makes dance-pop, and seems to relish filling his debut album with an eclectic collection of songs, each of which is distinct. Bailey (who releases music under his first name, Shamir) is African American and queer — yet makes some of the most inclusive dance music of the recent past. From the opening synth stabs on his debut album, Ratchet, Shamir’s androgynous voice works in tandem with the thumping beat to recreate the heady disco days of the ’80s. That doesn’t mean the song sounds dated (though Prince’s influence can be seen all over) — it’s indebted to other electronic musicians working today, like Brooklyn’s Holy Ghost and Scotland’s Hudson Mohawke. Shamir’s range of influences coalesce to create an album that is rare in the dance music world — it is something you can put on and play through from start to finish without getting aural boredom. Each song, while uniquely Shamir’s, is varied enough to keep a party going. Where the music dips, there’s always that voice, he refers to it as a countertenor, that confuses (“Is that a girl singing?” you find yourself wondering) but ultimately delights. On the Azealia Banks indebted ‘On The Regular’, Shamir raps over a synth trail that would work as an instrumental track itself. The punchy, under 3-minute track is one of many that never overstays its welcome, with most in fact ending before the listener has gotten their full. For a dance music album, the 11-track Ratchet clocks in at under an hour — giving every song a chance to hold the spotlight before being led out from under the lights. ‘Hot Mess’ is a stand out that hits in the middle of the album features a chorus that easy to sing along to, and serves as a palate cleanser before the album shifts gear with ‘Demon’ — about how relationships can serve to enable the worst in someone. Another song that will bury deep into your conscious is ‘Youth’ — which somehow manages to be both subdued and surprisingly spry. Coming off a 4-song EP, this could easily have been a collection of half-baked ideas that were never given the time or space to grow into the songs that they could be. Instead, the earnest, pithy listen is one of the most fun albums to be released in the last year and features a synth heavy song list that meanders into jazz (on ‘In For the Kill’) and more. For a dance party, a mood lift, or anything else, this is an album you can dip in and out of at will.