Everyone Is Gonna Be Okay

A Song For These Crazy Times. I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear It, But Everyone Is Gonna Be Okay.

Spotify :: https://spoti.fi/2yM5edT
Apple Music :: https://apple.co/2JSdg7m
Bandcamp :: https://shanafalana.bandcamp.com/
via Arrowhawk Records

“[Shana Falana] throws a lot at the wall — it stuffs its live shows with bright lights and visuals, a perfect complement to an ambitious sound marked by busily churning guitars and ethereal vocals — but it also knows when and how to keep it simple. In “Everyone Is Gonna Be Okay,” the song’s title is repeated like a mantra, at the exact moment we as a society need assurance the most.”

— NPR Music's Austin 100

If you only listen to the first half of this song, you might think I’m sort of naive. But the reason I love playing and singing this song so much is that it slowly changes in the middle and ends on a sober look at the world. The dark parts are there, the pain that people are feeling is real.

Being in the middle of this pandemic has brought out the best and worst in people. Its like a hyper-focused version of the world as I see it, with more extreme consequences. We have to believe that everything is going to be okay first, and then it can happen. It's faith for those without a religion.

I know you are all doing OKAY because you are all a bunch of FIGHTERS!
I believe in you

- SF 💜

Our new LP 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 is out now! Tour starts next week!

YES! The album we began making over 18 months ago is officially out today via Arrowhawk Records!

Links to stream/purchase here :: https://ffm.to/darkestlight

'Go Higher' turns dark experiences into bright (yet dense) pop songs -FLOOD Magazine

Shana Falana is flexing her songwriting abilities -Austin Town Hall

Ever expanding and peeling back layers of atmospheric intimacy, Shana’s nine tracks are captivating and powerful in their commanding messages of rebirth and redemption. -RebelNoise

And we’ll be heading out on a 3 week US tour to support the album, including a stop at LEVITATION Fest in Austin, 11/10! West Coast coming in Feb 2020, as well as SXSW in March! Dates >> http://www.shanafalana.com/tour/

"Darkest Light" title track out now

We are just a week away from the release of Darkest Light (10/25) and are very excited to share the title track to LP. Check it out below, and be sure to pre-order / pre-save the LP now :: https://ffm.to/darkestlight

I wrote this song after I watched The Handmaid's Tale. That show seriously f'd me up. I know the book and author of course, but seeing the actual story come to life was devastating. It's psychotic how we are still fighting for freedom over our bodies, our careers, and our believability when we say #metoo. It ended up being the title track of this record because it captures that cold feeling that comes when the fire goes out, when it feel like all is lost. But there are still embers, glowing embers that we can re-ignite. That's the darkest light.

Spotify :: https://spoti.fi/2BhwfnB
Apple Music :: https://apple.co/2VXDHhf

Watch 'Come and Find Me' the first single from 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 out 10/25!

We are very excited to announce that our new LP Darkest Light will be release 10/25 on Arrowhawk Records!

The first single "Come and Find Me" is out now, with a stunning video directed by D. James Goodwin. We spent a night in July in his pool, filming all sorts of dark, under water passages...but after hours of doing that, we dropped everything, and shot this, in one take.

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It's been almost 3 years since our last LP, and that's because we wanted to take our time writing new songs, and exploring more corners of our sound. The result is a record that is more personal, and not afraid to be quieter when needed, and loud and raw when needed. We've peeled back the layers of sound and reverb in places too. The words are more important than ever, whether its a wiccan chant ("Go Higher") or a mantra like "everyone is gonna be okay" or "right now is all we know." I've been dubbing this as 'druggy music for sober people', and I cannot wait for you all to hear it!

Produced by D. James Goodwin at Isokon Studios (Woodstock NY)
Cover Photo by Monik Geisel
Layout and Design by Michael Amari

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Stream "Come and Find Me" ::

Spotify :: https://spoti.fi/2kkkCao
Apple Music :: https://apple.co/2lZbgkM
Youtube :: http://bit.ly/2khQZGG
Bandcamp :: https://shanafalana.bandcamp.com/

Winter Shows and opening for Yeasayer in April!

Just added some new winter/spring shows, including support for Yeasayer!

All shows are on-sale now :: http://www.shanafalana.com/tour/

2/21 | Marlboro NY | The Falcon w/ Overhand Sam (of Maybird)

2/22 | Rochester NY | Record Archive w/ Overhand Sam + Buffalo Sex Change

2/23 | Cleveland OH | Brite Winter 2019

3/2 | Kingston NY | BSP Kingston w/ Bellows + Soft Fangs

3/29 | Woodstock NY | Colony w/ Sound of Ceres, Hiding Behind Sound

4/12 | Hamden CT | Space Ballroom w/ Yeasayer

4/17 | Brooklyn NY | Rough Trade NYC w/ Yeasayer

'Stripped' (Depeche Mode cover) and Midwest/Westcoast dates!

Our new cover of Depeche Mode’s “Stripped” is up everywhere, now! We’ll be playing this and a few other new songs from a forthcoming record on our US TOUR this fall.

Spotify :: https://spoti.fi/2pJip7u
Apple Music :: https://apple.co/2zZH4uo
Amazon :: https://amzn.to/2ILyn9L
TIDAL :: https://bit.ly/2PoFyHG

Cool Kids video and Fall Tour!

Bandsintown just premiered our new video for "Cool Kids"! 

Falana's ode to acceptance and feeling secure in your identity in light of the turbulent political climate...The old school meets new school vid falls somewhere between a 70’s hair commercial and a workout VHS—in the best way possible.

https://news.bandsintown.com/view-article/2017/10/25/exclusive-video-premiere-shana-falana-have-a-political-message-for-us-in-cool-kids

Tour Starts Monday, heading to Florida, Texas and a lot inbetween!

http://www.shanafalana.com/tour

WKNC Session in The Lounge!

Got to swing by WKNC's office back in April and record this live session in their Lounge! It came out sounding great, and features "Cool Kids" "Where R U" and "Lie 2 Me"!

Spring '17 Tour Dates!

Excited to announce that we'll be hitting many places we've never been, and places we havent been in a long time! Plus playing Treefort Fest (Boise) and Waking Windows (VT)!

Tix + Info :: http://www.shanafalana.com/tour/

3.15 // Lincoln Hall + Schubas | Chicago IL
3.16 // The Sinkhole | St Louis MO
3.17 // Cafe Berlin (Columbia, MO)
3.18 // Rozz-Tox | Rock Island IL
3.19 // Vaudeville Mews | Des Moines IA
3.20 // The Waiting Room Lounge | Omaha NE
3.21 // Vega | Lincoln NE
3.22 // Hi-Dive Denver [w. Hand Habits / Mega Bog]
3.23 // Surfside 7 | Fort Collins CO
3.25 // Treefort Music Fest 2017 | Boise ID
3.28 // Swillery Whiskeybar | Bellingham WA
3.29 // The Vera Project | Seattle WA [all ages!]
3.31 // TOTAL DRAG | Sioux Falls SD
4.01 // Nottingham Cooperative | Madison WI
4.04 // The Hollow Bar + Kitchen | Albany NY [w.NE-HI]

4.20 // Baby's All Right | Brooklyn NY [w. METHYL ETHEL]
4.21 // The Holy Underground | Baltimore MD
4.22 // tba | Harrisonburg VA
4.23 // Local 506 | Chapel Hill NC
4.24 // The Garage | Winston-Salem NC
4.25 // The Caledonia Lounge | Athens GA
4.27 // The Mothlight | Asheville NC
4.28 // Drkmttr | Nashville TN
4.29 // House Show | Columbus OH
4.30 // Mahall's | Cleveland OH
5.01 // Club Cafe | Pittsburgh PA
5.02 // Bug Jar | Rochester NY
5.05 // Turbo Haüs | Montreal QC
5.06 // BSP Kingston | Kingston NY [w. Japanese Breakfast]
5.07 // Waking Windows Winooski VT

Photo by Sheri Giblin Photography / Headpiece by Darrell Thorne!

New "Cloudbeats" video!

This week we released a new video for "Cloudbeats" which was all shot by Shana, and edited by Mike! It chronicles a day-in-the-life of Shana Falana, in our home of Kingston NY. 

from Impose:

"It brings excitement to every day tasks, and reminds us of the power in our own two hands."

Here Comes The Wave - Track By Track Breakdown

Alt Artwork, by Carla Rozman

#1 - "Shaanadaar Bachche"

I wanted to begin this record with an open, atmospheric sound, I love hindi pop music, bollywood sounds, and thought it would be interesting to experiment in a similiar way to what we did on "Anything" on the last record. I was really inspired by The Brian Jonestown Massacre's Aufheben record, specifically the first track "Panic In Babylon" (https://youtu.be/FR3H8TY3iGg). I also wanted the song to go right into track #2, our producer Dan Goodwin did an awesome mix of Mike's drum roll and voila! The opening sounds (kids singing, various street instruments) are all field recordings from Dans travels, which gives it this sound collage feel, which I love. We have been starting every show with the 'long version' of Cool Kids, with this as the intro, and it is such a great way for us to get into the vibe of the night and set the tone for what we do: droney, tribal, and celebratory.

and yes Shaanadaar-bachche translates as "Cool Kids" in Hindi.... I mean COME ON!!

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/shaanadaar-bachche

#2 - "Cool Kids"

I have so much unrecorded music it's crazy. When I lived in Brooklyn (and San Francisco) I wrote enough songs for the rest of my career, channeling things in a sort of druggy/spiritual way. But for this new LP, I knew I needed to challenge myself to write something current, something with INTENTION, something that would reflect the changes i've gone thru as a person since getting sober.

I usually write my best riffs during soundchecks and in rehearsals before Mike shows up, and I try to quickly record them on my phone before they're gone. The simple 2 chord riff and vocal melody (plus the "oh ohs") came out right away, along with the lyrics. I think in some ways, my goal as a musician is to find all the notes, melodies, and ideas that can exist between just two chords.

https://soundcloud.com/teamlove/cool-kids-single-version

#3 - "Cloudbeats"

I was pretty lost in addiction, living in Brooklyn in 2006... I'd just moved from San Francisco to Brooklyn and was feeling really lonely, my life was magical and tragic all at once, I missed my home in the Bay Area but I didn't want to give up on my dreams of playing music in New York. So really this is a song about looking for a home, both physically and emotionally, and it was shortly after I wrote this that I reconnected with my father and learned he was ill. 3 months later he passed away.

I feel like i'm still processing his death even 9 years later, and when I went to record the vocals for this (I do the vocals by myself, at home) I became totally overwhelmed with grief...mourning...it was tough, but there's also a lot of closure in this song for me now. Its like I was reaching out to my future self for help, and 9 years later I was able to answer the call. Thats sort of the underlying message of this record: its never too late, never give up, life keeps on getting better.

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/cloudbeats

#4 - "You Did"

This song sums up the vibe we wanted to go for on this record, its kind of dark and heavy, but also, ultimately, optimistic and encouraging. I wanted the verses to sound like cheerleaders at a pep rally while the chorus is like the pep rally from the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video.

I updated these lyrics right before recording it, and it references how fucking hard I work at everything and how my magical spirit guides help me navigate through life, especially when I'm waiting for change. You have to celebrate the waiting, dance through the boring parts. That's what I meant by "you want to love the disco"!

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/you-did

#5 - "Where R U"

One of the things that led me to releasing music under my own name was the struggle that comes with working with another songwriter or even a whole band. I wrote this in Brooklyn about being at a band rehearsal/songwriting session, where the other person never showed up. I guess I was determined to get something out of that time i'd set aside, and its funny now to think about it...but being punctual and sticking to commitments is still a big part of my life!

"Waiting for the day you come / Hallow be thy name"

This is the only song on the LP that we've been playing live for years, and when we went to record it Mike said he thought it might have been an Echo and the Bunnymen or The Jesus And Mary Chain cover (its original!)...and I think that inspired the goth-surf vibe that we ended up going with production wise (lots of reverb on the drums, organ at the end, "where where wa-where")

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/where-r-u

#6 - "Lie 2 Me"

So this song is definitely connected to "Where R U," it was written around that same time, and where that song was about losing trust in the people you surround yourself with, this song is about losing trust in yourself, or your own higher power. I was feeling very disillusioned with my move from SF to BK, like my muse had led me there and then abandoned me. It’s about the frustration that can come from chasing your dream for years and years but not getting very far...

"I dont see things you said that I'd receive / Did you lie to me?"

This is by far my favorite song to play live right now, its so heavy and rumble-y with the bass synth. On this last tour, as the election happened, it really became my anthem for the frustration and the mourning that was going on, and it felt SO F'IN GOOD to play it every night. The end section, which is a combination of guitar feedback and distorted moog, with delays and stuff, was Mike's idea and he and our producer Dan Goodwin put that together...it just felt right for me to shout "Did you lie to me?!" over and over at the end until everything shakes and rattles and falls apart around it...into the chaos.

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/lie-2-me

#7 - "Brainy Fox"

Does anyone remember Lucky Cat in BK? They used to have piano karaoke, and bands... anyway, my old band did this song for the first time at a fashion show there and ppl were freaking out, dancing around to "I see your underwear underwear"! I felt a spark with this song that night, like it was sort of out of character for me musically, but just has this great fun energy.

"I wont turn you in / I will turn you on"

I love that it's a woman checking someone out. Like we hear songs all the time with dude's singing about some girls butt or chest, but whens the last time you heard a woman sexually checking out someone in a song? Maybe this is why I LOVE Missy Elliott. Probably one of the hardest songs to sing live, this last tour I got sick and we had to take it out of the set completely. Hopefully when we go back out in March I can sing it every night!

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/brainy-fox

#8 - "Castle Kids"

I have a million of these ambient little jammers..... Mike liked this one alot so we experimented putting it on the album between some pop and psych music!!! How'd we do?! The most interesting part about releasing these ambient tracks is what to name them! Could be almost anything, Mike decided to name this one Castle Kids. So who are the castle kids? Here's something I wrote for an interview earlier this fall:

In the 90's in San Francisco I really had to go out and find 'my people' and it took a while! But if you know what I'm talking about, and you've finally found 'your people' then you know how special it is, that instant love and connection, you feel like you're part of a team and together we can go do anything, and we did! 
We ran DIY scenes in San Francisco in the early to late 90's. We brought a lot of people together, my group was filled with every type of person, burning man types, jocks, punks, skateboarders, nerdy girls, people that were straight edge people that weren't, everyone, we created a huge family (called the Castle Kids), we would throw parties and shows and supported eachothers events no matter what. We roamed around as a large group, it was in that world that I learned what a supportive community was.

This song is meant to be a warm washcloth on your temple, a place of rest from thoughts, a palate cleanser, a moment of pause.

https://shanafalana-tl.bandcamp.com/track/castle-kids

#9 - "Ocean" (The Velvet Underground cover)

When I lived in SF, I used to hula hoop in my bedroom to the Velvet Underground "Quine Tapes Bootleg Series" (https://youtu.be/WI7x2LBDzlY). I also taught myself to play drums by drumming along to the "VU compilation album," Moe Tucker was my teacher, and I loved loved loved her drumming on "Ocean!" I learned every tom hit every cymbal hit, she really embodied the ocean crashing in, it's my favorite version of this track.

I started covering this song when I lived in my loft in Brooklyn. I learned the 1969 version, and the lyrics the best I could. I remember playing it and thinking, damn I like my version better than the original, it's spookier! When we went to record it I had to decipher Lou's cryptic lyrics, and I actually reached out to a few Velvet-heads (Kelley Stoltz!) to see if there was any kind of consensus about what he was saying, and what it might have meant. I really relate to the way he would change lyrics on the fly, rewriting songs many times over the years...it was like they were old friends that he would revisit now and then.

After recording all the music (that's our producer Dan Goodwin playing reverse guitar at the beginning), it wasn't until the last vocal take, where I got really close to the mic and basically whispered the vocals for the first verse that it all started to gel. This song is like a nesting doll, its scope goes from small...like a grain of sand, to giant waves crashing on a cliff...Dan really nailed that wall of sound at the end, I think there are 10 guitar tracks.

I love ending the song, and the record, with this line "Here come the ocean, and the wave." It could be a wave of fear, or success, but its coming no matter what, so you have to accept it. I wish Lou could have heard this version!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA-Kl9h-mJE

Here Comes The Wave is out now !

Our new LP Here Comes The Wave is out now via Team Love Records and available for streaming, download, and on vinyl (limited edition white w/ black lined sleeve) + CD!

Spotify :: http://spoti.fi/2eo6NTD
iTunes :: https://t.co/XeTt5hklmq
Vinyl+CDs :: http://bit.ly/2bVCXjR

we'll be heading out on a full US Tour starting 11/3, full details at our TOUR page

Listen to 'Cool Kids' now via A.V. Club!

Our new record Here Comes The Wave is out this Friday!! And this morning AV Club premiered the centerpiece to the LP, "Cool Kids"! Its an optimistic track about being weird and staying weird, that the outcasts actually have a community of their own, and thats pretty COOOOL

Check out the track here :: http://www.avclub.com/article/shana-falana-pens-adolescent-anthem-full-catchy-ho-244229

"Full of simple hooks and spacey guitars, it delivers a joyous kick of righteous rock"

Bandcamp Premieres "Cloudbeats"

We are less than a month away from Here Comes The Wave coming out (pre-order http://bit.ly/2bVCXjR) and Bandcamp just premiered another song, "Cloudbeats"

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2016/09/29/premiere-shana-falana-cloudbeats-stream/

"The music that surrounds the confession is drifting and dreamlike—a stark change from the thundering roar for which Falana has become known."

Announcing 'Here Comes The Wave,' She Shreds Premiere + Q&A

Its finally here! We are super excited to share with you the first track 'Lie 2 Me' off our upcoming LP Here Comes The Wave due out 10/21 on Team Love Records! Exclusively streaming at She Shreds Magazine, where I also answered a few questions about the release:

http://sheshredsmag.com/shana-falana-premiere-lie-2-me/