Shy Beast was born an adult in 2017. Mature band, mature music. The band simply transformed naturally from its previous body, MCG. That prior musical entity built songs and a following, true. And as in all youthful things, it embraced life and sang about it, but it never, ever, clicked the box entitled “I agree to the terms of service.” The results of that are not exile, they are leadership. Hence Shy Beast.
The beast is shy because expectations are high. The abundant talent in the band, already with demonstrated results, stokes those expectations. The only real internal concern is how best to express all the avenues and channels of the musical potential.
The musicians: Mariclaire (MC) Glaeser— leader of the band, songwriter, singer, keyboardist. Both shy and beastly, she is the creative force of the group. Her vocal range is huge, and she uses it to captivate audiences, and claim her place as the alpha in her pride of musical men. She earns scrapbooks full of laudatory press, almost all the items mentioning sincerity and authenticity. Those are keepers, and she is leveraging those traits in reaching for new horizons.
Her creature companions include David Tenczar—guitarist and vocalist—the man for whom there is no melody too complex to master. His guitar work is flexible, his harmonies malleable. Here is the heart of the art. Andrew Bennett is a guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist. He projects a gentle, purring vibe on stage, conveying the impression that less is more. And that is the wild magic with which he gains the most beauty from every moment of the music. Jay Cesak is the almighty monster of the bass clef. A commanding presence near the back of the stage, Cesak creates realms of transportive sonicity with drummer Drew Silverman. Clearly, they have a mutual inspiration society. Silverman is certainly the King of Beat. Each strike of a drumhead, each stroke of chimes, each scratch across the audience’s face, gives back full value and energy in Silverman’s construction of Shy Beast’s musical environments. Sonic realms? Oh, yes. And they start with the Silverman backbeat.
Newcomers to Shy Beast’s music may be assured that yes, the band plays electro-pop, but the boundaries of that are sure to be re-drawn with this new creature entering the musical fray. Follow the band closely as the changes are coming rapidly. Shy Beast stands well positioned artistically to step into the front ranks of American pop music and any of its subgenres. The beast invites you to hop on for a rumbling ride through the forests of imagination to the deep dark hideouts of the heart.
