Shell Money - Family Tapes 89-93 (2017)

Like the blurred photo on its cover, Shell Money’s debut is as mysterious as it is telling. Riddled with childhood recordings, Family Tapes 89-93 doesn’t feel nostalgic or celebratory. There is a disconnect between these ‘foundsound’ recordings and their meaning or purpose. Who is Andrew? Who is the woman? Does it matter? That is the success of Family Tapes 89-93 , privacy is pushed aside.

Shell Money is the project of Jenkintown-based Zach Goldstein. Jenkintown, a Philadelphia suburb, is home to Kawari Sound Studio, where Goldstein is an engineer and the studio manager. There’s very little in Shell Money’s sound which would tell you that Goldstein is a trained guitarist, studying jazz for most of his life. Synthesizers and samplers are his primary tools, with his studio’s stocked racks of vintage analog gear informing the sonic palette.

Difficult to pigeonhole, Family Tapes 89-93 sometimes feels like a lost DJ Shadow “Endtroducing” track (“IDKY”) and other times becomes that strange Radiohead electronic b-side (“May 89”), sans Thom Yorke’s crooning. There are even hints of Goldstein’s ‘formal’ training, like in “Xmas 89”, where the chords, dare we say, get jazzy. Throughout, the hiss and scratch of home recordings and our two familiar voices provide continuity. Family Tapes 89-93 feels autobiographical, even if it is not. It’s often said that an artist spends their entire life creating their first album, and with Shell Money, Goldstein has truly done that.