San Francisco Bay Area indie rock/folk punk outfit Little Shrine, who are getting ready to release their sophomore record, The Good Thing About Time on April 17 encapsulate the wily and wiry energy of Ted Leo’s early solo releases, the punky whip-crack of Carrie Brownstein’s vocals, and imbue the punk aesthetic.

Little Shrine singer/songwriter Jade Shipman ushers in a new era of Americana brimming with punk pathos. Little Shrine seeks to explore universal truth through relentless pursuit of all creeds of heartbreak and the methods necessary to cast out the resulting ills. With the help of guitarist Tony Schoenberg, violinist Ryan Avery, drummer Andrew Griffin, and keyboardist Garrett Warshaw, The Good Thing About Time is the collaborative culmination of the ecstatic folk-rock energy of the band’s previous release – Wilderness – while plumbing personal depths previously unreached, touching on the pangs of lost time, strained relationships, and pushing back against the oppression of women.

Today, Ghettoblaster has the pleasure of premiering Little Shrine’s “Shadow.” This is what Shipman had to say about it:

“When I wrote ‘Shadow,’ I was thinking a lot about death. Two of my friends had just died. They were young musicians and it felt jarring. Death just like… took them. At first, I felt guilty and I was questioning, ‘why am I still here and they’re gone?’ It seemed random and unfair. Eventually, I realized I could honor them by trying to live more fully, you know? That’s what this song is about – holding that strange combination of feeling deeply sad and confused, while still choosing to celebrate.

“I tried to bring their memory with me when recording the vocals. It was a pretty special recording session; We were in a big room with a giant window overlooking a wooded hillside. I sing a line – ‘I understand I’m kept alive by the sacred rain.’ During one of the takes, as I sang that line, it started to pour, like buckets of rain. It was eerie… I’d like to think my friends were there, egging us on, snarkily telling us to make sure this record doesn’t suck.

“Honestly, I wish this song weren’t timely. But, unfortunately, I think the themes are pretty relevant to what we’re facing now.”

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