Shiny Toy Guns
III
Release Date: Oct 22, 2012
Genre(s): Electronic, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Dance-Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock, Club/Dance
Record label: Five Seven Music
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Album Review: III by Shiny Toy Guns
Fairly Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 3.5
The journey Shiny Toy Guns have been on since the release of their debut album We Are Pilots in 2006 has not been a smooth one. That album – which was nominated for a Grammy Award and featured the brilliant single You Are The One – managed to fuse electronic and rock influences to create a seamless and refreshingly exciting brand of synth pop, back when everyone was busy not trying their hand at it. However, after touring We Are Pilots relentlessly for years, relationships between the quartet became frayed and lead vocalist Carah Faye Charnow left the band.
Based on rating 6/10
The album III marks a return of sorts for Los Angeles group Shiny Toy Guns. For one, it heralds the return of vocalist Carah Faye Charnow, who left the band after the 2006 release of their debut We Are Pilots, an album that was actually re-recorded and re-released three times on various record labels. The album also is suitably retro – a return to the keyboard-heavy New Wave sounds of the early ‘80s, which is probably par for the course for a group that recorded a version of the Peter Schilling hit “Major Tom (Coming Home)” for a car commercial.
Based on rating 5/10
Coming off a four-year hiatus, Shiny Toy Guns returned for III. After second vocalist Sisely Treasure left the band to pursue solo endeavors, We Are Pilots singer Carah Faye Charnow joined the fold alongside keyboardist Jeremy Dawson, drummer Mikey Martin, and frontman Chad Petree. Charnow’s dance-diva vocals help take the big-budget production in a pop direction, further separating the band from their Killers/Franz Ferdinand dance rock reputation.
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