Shame Engine / Blood Pleasure

The new album from Health & Beauty - Shame Engine / Blood Pleasure - is their 2nd for Wichita Recordings and the 7th of their career. The recording features a large cast of musicians from the outfit's past and it's present helping the band's founder and sole constant Brian J Sulpizio achieve his idiosyncratic vision-a sound and ethos he's been kicking around, retooling, and finessing for more than 15 years. The new album conveys a directness and scorching power that seems to stem from the band's live performances, whether the harrowing, droning blues of the opener "Saturday Night" or the soulful Irish-tinged folk-rock of "Recourse." The most gripping and satisfying installment in Health & Beauty's process yet, renowned Chicago music critic, Peter Margasak, has declared Shame Engine / Blood Pleasure as "one of the great rock albums to emerge from Chicago this decade", and it's surely one for fans of Jim O'Rourke's song-based output and The Sea & Cake, as well as appealing to anyone who enjoys "Tonight's The Night"-era Neil Young.01. Saturday Night 02. Yr Wives 03. Rat Shack 04. Clown 05. Lack 06. Bottom Leaves 07. Judy 08. Escaping Error 09. Recourse 10. Love Can Be Kind