I just listened through The Icy Shores‘ “The Opposite of Your Heart. It is dark, sinister, and absolutely enthralling. The guitar textures are marvelous, the vocals are haunting, and, in stark contrast to the overall tone of the record, there are moments of tenderness throughout.

The fact that the three gents who make up The Icy Shores are from Minneapolis brings me extra pleasure. I have lived in Chicago and L.A., and I have many times said that Minneapolis has better songwriters than both of those places. These guys couple some great songwriting with some great production to bring us a beautiful record from its nasty ashtray cover through to the end of the 40-minute listening experience.