If the most striking feature of Disco Romance, Sally Shapiro's utterly charming debut album, was its uncannily meticulous evocation of early-'80s Italo disco in all its fragile, intimate glory, the most notable thing about this follow-up set may be how fully and faithfully it replicates its predecessor. Save for an occasionally perceptible updating and subtle toughening of their sound, and a marginally poppier writing approach (thanks largely to the increased involvement of Nixon/Cloetta Paris songsmith Roger Gunnarsson), Johan Agebjörn and his still-secretive chanteuse have hardly altered their working template, so album number two feels mostly like a déjŕ vu whirlwind of glistening synths and icily insistent beats, laden with sweetly cooed romantic disclosures and hushed spoken asides. It's a rather less uncanny feat the second time around, certainly, and My Guilty Pleasure can't help but feel like something of a letdown after the starry-eyed singularity and surprise of Shapiro's initial appearance, but more of the same is, in this case, far from a horrible thing. To some extent, it's hard to say what else could have been expected -- the two discs' worth of largely reverent remixes that followed Disco Romance were surprisingly scant on potential new directions (that said, the one remixer who crops up again here, Tensnake, does provide a loose, poppy highlight in "Moonlight Dance," even if it's less distinctive than his dubby, percussive mix of "I'll Be By Your Side"). Excepting perhaps wholesale retreads like "Looking at the Stars" and "My Fantasy" (dead ringers for the first album standouts "Hold Me So Tight" and "I Know"), the sameness of the sound isn't necessarily such a problem in itself; more disappointing is that nothing here follows up on the charismatic songwriting promise of the stellar inter-album singles "He Keeps Me Alive" and "Jackie Jackie" (which appeared on the North American release of Disco Romance and the European edition of this album) -- even with Gunnarsson aboard, nothing here approaches the personable nature of those songs or of his work for Cloetta Paris (whose overlooked 2008 debut is a far more worthy next step for Shapiro admirers). The closest are probably "Love in July" (featuring an almost imperceptible vocal cameo from Paris), whose electro-tinged warmth does indeed inject a bit of summer into Shapiro's decidedly wintry vibe, and "Save Your Love," a simple but touching blast of quasi-Hi-NRG dance. The lushly arranged album closer, (and first single), "Miracle" is a nicely effective piece of overwrought emotionalism, complete with fake thunderstorm. A little variety goes a long way -- here's hoping the next album will continue to explore further afield. In the meantime, this may be a holding pattern, but it's one worth holding on to. Diminishing results are, after all, still results.
Swedish pop star Sally Shapiro is a bit of an enigma. She doesn't like publicity, touring or giving interviews and is reportedly very shy out of the recording studio. Her music is harmless,mellow and very listenable Italo - pop,somewhat twee and rather Eurovision Song sounding. She collaborates with producer/writer Johan Agebjorn on this second album, which [...]
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Sally Shapiro, the icy disco queen who captured hearts in 2007 with her superb debut Disco Romance, returns with a solid (if a tad familiar) sophomore effort.
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Two of my favorite albums of the year are officially out today: Sally Shapiro’s My Guilty Pleasure and Mew’s No More Stories…On first listen to Guilty Pleasure i was kind of skeptical, while it was certainly catchy and still had very much of a Sally Shapiro “sound” to it, the themes were almost opposite from [...]
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August 25 will mark the release date of My Guilty Pleasure on Paper Bag Records, the new album from Swedish italo-disco artist Sally Shapiro.The first single from the new album, "Miracle," will be released on June 16.Shapiro and producer Johan Agebjorn describe the new album as "a bit more poppy and varied" than her debut, Disco Romance. "It will hopefully make you fall in love with the person ...
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Sally Shapiro "Miracle" from the album "My Guilty Pleasure" from Paper Bag Records on Vimeo.
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Sally Shapiro wants you to have her song "Dying In Africa".No particular reason really - other than to let you know that girlfriend is still here and she has a new electronica album out today called "My Guilty Pleasure" that is lush, warm, poetic and and thoughtful. But then again you already knew that. And isn't the free download just downright sweet of her...Get "My Guilty Pleasure" on .
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Sally Shapiro “Miracle” from the album “My Guilty Pleasure” from Paper Bag Records on Vimeo.Sally Shapiro is excited to release a brand new video for the first single, “Miracle,” off her sophomore release, My Guilty Pleasure, out now on Paper Bag Records!
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To continue dragging around the cliched compliment of calling enigma/ingenue Sally Shapiro "the queen/princess/]insert proclamation of royalty] of Italo disco" is full of complications, so instead of all of that dredging, we'll simply state that the music she and arranger...
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Swedish pop star Sally Shapiro is a bit of an enigma. She doesn't like publicity, touring or giving interviews and is reportedly very shy out of the recording studio. Her music is harmless,mellow and very listenable Italo - pop,somewhat twee and rather Eurovision Song sounding. She collaborates with producer/writer Johan Agebjorn on this second album, which [...]
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Who: Sally ShapiroTitle: My Guilty PleasureRelease Date: August 25thLabel: Paper BagThoughts: The Swedish invasion of music does not seem like it will ever stop. Album after album from new acts have been pouring into our ears lately and now some of the acts that first started the tidal wave are getting ready to release their follow-ups. After bursting onto the scene with her Italo disco revival...
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Two of my favorite albums of the year are officially out today: Sally Shapiro’s My Guilty Pleasure and Mew’s No More Stories…On first listen to Guilty Pleasure i was kind of skeptical, while it was certainly catchy and still had very much of a Sally Shapiro “sound” to it, the themes were almost opposite from [...]
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Here’s the new video for “Love in July”, the latest single off of Sally Shapiro’s upcoming album My Guilty Pleasure. I think Pixar might have a copyright infringement case on their hands here…only in this case the special effects are really cheesy…but cheesy in a way that only the swedes can make it work. You [...]
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"Miracle" - Sally Shapiro Sweden's reclusive neo-italo-disco chanteuse (and/or duo) returns with another glistening wash of beat-driven melodrama, complete with whispery spoken French and electronic thunderstorms. Once again, it's the airy vocals--half golden warm, half icy cold; summer and winter combined--and blasé melodicism that give this song its particular charisma. For all its scrupu..
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Swedish Eurodisco duo Sally Shapiro-comprised of producer Johan Agebjrn and an anonymous singer-are set to release ‘My Guilty Pleasure,’ the long-awaited follow-up to their 2006 debut ‘Disco Romance’ in early Fall of this year.Gearing up for their sophomore full-length they‘ve prepared a new single, a dramatically sentimental Johan Agebjrn and Roger Gunnarsson composed and produced Ita
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Sally Shapiro, the icy disco queen who captured hearts in 2007 with her superb debut Disco Romance, returns with a solid (if a tad familiar) sophomore effort.
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Swedish italo-disco princess Sally Shapiro just released the official video for her new single, "Miracle." Love the video, love the song. It a gorgeous slice of sweet and sleek electro pop that is taken from Shapiro's second album "My Guilty...
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Swedish electropop duo returns this year with second album, My Guilty Pleasure.In a press release,...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Swimming Through the Blue Lagoon |
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| 2 Looking at the Stars |
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| 3 Love in July |
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| 4 My Fantasy |
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| 5 Let It Snow |
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| 6 Moonlight Dance |
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| 7 Save Your Love |
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| 8 Dying in Africa |
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| 9 Miracle |
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 "My Guilty Pleasure")
