Weakness: Production, Songwriting, Vocals

The main duo between Tagyerit are a married pair of two old songwriters who wanted to reach an audience, but not leave their home or faithful pet bunnies. Hailing from Massachusetts the pair embarked on creating inventive, fun, pop songs in 1994. Three albums later, Shimmer is the grand result. This 8 song, 36 minute, canvas is their presentation to you.

With the title Tagyerit, the band gives you the warning upon first notice not to be taken too seriously. The honest labor, and playful pop can be found all over the album, but none better than on the opening track of “Beyond da Feet”. A delightful romp about getting everyone off their seats and jigger bugging on the floor. The rest of the album from there goes into exploring pirate brides, trick or treating, and hoarding addictions. Amongst all of these silly topics, Tagyerit combines all of this honest story telling, with melodic pop and rock structures to keep the beat flowing. One of the most mesmerizing things about this band is Flo’s (Lead Vocals) electric guitar. Built and resembling an actual bunny, the body is a true work of art. The biggest shame is that it will never get to see its hayday being stuck down in a band who doesn’t tour

Even though the guitar might never be seeing its action on the front lines, that’s probably for the best. Despite all the warm feelings and buzzing vibes, good feelings are not going to make this album sound better. Generally lo-fidelity is an aesthetic picked by artists to give the album a warm feel, but in this case it just sounds bad. Shimmer might as well have been produced in Ed Vadas basement. The back up vocals during, “Pirate’s Bride “ are barely audible. Many of the song lyrics feel as if penned by a fifth grader. During many of the songs, the rhyming couplets draws old and there is not much else to fall back on. Even the songs themselves, don’t flow evenly in crafting the best story. Many times the carefree vibe just seems to fall through into crudely palpable songs.

From a band that saw its best times in 1996, when their first album got positive reviews, Tagyerit have fallen out of favor. This album is a chore to listen to after the first few songs. Rather then sounding lighthearted and positive, it more accurately feels dumbed down. An album you would find appeasing a Kindergarten class, rather than a room full of people.