This selection was chosen by Gen X dad.

Gen X dad says… Cafe Racer is from Chicago. Shadow Talk is their third release, including their cassette-only debut from 2016. I ran across them opening for Luna last year at Lincoln Hall. After their set I picked up their sophomore release Famous Dust, which came out in 2018. Their performance that night started off a little shaky, but by the end they’d found their groove.

The same comparison holds between their second album and the new one, which builds well upon its predecessor. Though somewhat longer here, the songs are tighter, better structured, and sequenced in a way that goes from strength to strength.

The band’s shoegazey sound will be familiar to fans of the aforementioned Luna, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Pale Saints. But it is original take on the style rather than a derivative one.

Shadow Talk is one of those albums that needs to be heard in full. Highlights for me are pretty much the whole damn album. So put your phone away, sit down, and listen to it.

Gen Z son says… Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much on Cafe Racer, but from what I did find they are a rock band from Chicago, who have released 3 albums since 2016 (and, according to Gen X Dad, once opened for indie pop band Luna). Their 3rd release, Shadow Talk, is a bit more mellow, simple, and less aggressive than I was expecting. Despite this, this was a great album that I found very enjoyable.

Cafe Racer’s style is a unique blend of aforementioned band Luna’s trademark indie rock, shoegaze, post-punk, post-rock, and new wave. There’s a tiny bit of The Sea And Cake (who also live in Chicago) ’s quiet, nonchalantly laid-back pop, but with a bit more spirited attitude and a more experimental, more powerful sound than what they would normally do. The tracks themselves range from brisker, fast-paced numbers, like Seminal Art and Out The Window for example, to slower, more Joy Division-esque ballads like Breathing. While Exile’s noisy, lengthy outro was a tad bit unexpected and out-of-nowhere, I really enjoyed it. And to top it all off, we get a psychedelic, ethereal 10½ minute title-track for the closer.

To conclude, Shadow Talk is a strong, straightforward record that marvelously takes indie pop into a brand new direction unlike any other album, due to Cafe Racer being smart, talented and knowing what to do. It’s yet another solid album for 2020.