One of my favourite underground artists I’ve discovered in recent years is Completions. Shawn Alpay heads the project and for ages I thought it was just Shawn, to be honest! His 2015 debut album saw Shawn looping cello and drums like a pro and it’s one of my favourite albums of the last decade. However, he has been on something of a journey and that informs the title of his follow-up album “I Needed Help”. Taken from his newsletter, Shawn says “I wrote a bunch of songs about accepting help, in all senses of the word: therapy, surgery, marriage, vocal lessons, family, community, myself etc.”
In doing so, he brought in other musicians and now Completions is a quartet. That means the sound has changed towards a fuller, indie rock sound but the orchestral chamber elements are still there, loud and proud. I’m hoping this merger of ideas brings Completions a new musical style and new wider audience as their music and lyrics have always hit home before. The lead single from “I Needed Help” is called “Transplanting” and has a timeless rock quality, beautiful lyrics and sumptuous strings. Enjoy the music video below.
For more info on Completions, visit their website.
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