SHEER MAG - Need To Feel Your Love LP / CD

"Earlier this year, a video made the rounds of Sheer Mag playing Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” at a wedding in North Carolina. Alongside a group of friends dancing along, the Philly five-piece tore through a faithful rendition of the ‘90s pop smash without a trace of irony. The performance captured the band’s earnest demeanor and excitement, serving as an example of how they warmed the hearts of punk and hardcore audiences in the underground circuit over the past three years. Led by Thin Lizzy-inspired riffs and the tremendous voice of singer Tina Halladay, who could have been a Motown star in a past life, Sheer Mag took the scene by storm over the course of three compact and thrilling EPs in as many years. Now they’ve returned with Need To Feel Your Love, their much anticipated debut album that delivers on the promise of their early work while showcasing fresh new avenues for the band to explore.
One reason the band connected early with punk and DIY audiences was the political nature of their music, songs of protest built on dismantling power structures designed to oppress while calling out abusers, slumlords, and cops. In an age where the bar for political music is so low that any indie-rock band writing a positive song about love filled with vague platitudes can sell it as an anti-Trump attack, the direct punch of Sheer Mag is refreshing. “Meet Me In The Street” kicks the album off with a rallying cry for action, with Halladay singing about smashed glass, bottles and bricks, and “throwing rocks at the boys in blue.” - David Sackllah (Consequence of Sound)