The Shadracks are the group that Billy Childish's son Huddy Shadrack has formed with Elisa Abednego and Rhys Webb from The Horrors. The album has been produced by Billy Childish to his usual low-fi garage primitive Medway rock standards. They are not to be confused with the long running American band Shadracks.
The album as it downloaded in alphabetical order rather than the order you'll find on the vinyl or CD opens with Barefoot On The Pavement that's almost a ballad that sounds halfway between a slow Headcoats song and Tav Falco's Panther Burns as this song about someone who is drunk and barefoot on the pavement screaming at passer's by in a way that infers one of his Dad's ex's.
Count To Ten is about taking breath before you really lose the plot when she rejects the love you thought was going to set you free, but it's not clear from what other than garage rock guitars and a good solid wailing background vocals he wants to offer her to make her give him a chance.
Delicate Touch has a rumbling bass and almost spoken rather than sung vocals with some discordant guitar accentuating the various moans and complaints of what he doesn't really like about you.
Did You Like It Then is a barely their song of love and grace and a promise of treating you well, this is fragile and heartfelt.
Don't Let Go is a slightly off key song of anguish and mental torture at what you've become with a great but all too short guitar break that makes this song like the slowest of Inca Babies songs.
The albums title track From Human Like Forms is an argument song that is the tussle between two parting lovers or are they more haters, it's sung with dispassionate distain.
It's All Undoing sounds a bit like The Primevals but with less bite.
No Time and No Time (Slight Return) are garage punk tales of brewer's droop and another failed relationship that get's fuzzier on the (Slight Return) half of the equation as he begs and pleads with her to wait up for him.
Not Yet Been Erased is a sardonic paean to cancelling another lover out of your life with plenty of barbs accompanied by low-fi shuffling garage rock that almost sounds like they are trying to play as if they can't play.
Pray needs to be shrouded in reverb to really bring out the menace crawling underneath this song that if it was dedicated to you would be a good sign that you made the right decision to dump him.
Wet Cake is more ruminations on the ennui of his life and his snarky asides at his ex who escaped to hopefully not be described as being like Wet Cake by any future lovers over very basic garage rock.
You Are Adored is the flip side when he's sober enough to want her back and is begging and pleading for her return, well I hate to say it Huddy but she may be better off without you as he sings You Are Adored with no passion in his voice whatsoever, just totally deadpan over a cool stripped back beat.
The album closes with You Can't Lose is one more plea for redemption as he claims he can fix it and make it all right, well maybe he can but it will take more than this song to convince her to give him another chance.
Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/theshadracksgroup https://damagedgoods.co.uk/discography/the-shadracks-from-human-like-forms/
