Welcome to the return of Local Limelight, where every two weeks we highlight a Bay Area artist that’s caught my attention – and will hopefully catch yours as well.
This week’s artist is singer-songwriter-producer Shawn Barry. Hailing from Palo Alto, Barry merges the two classic bedroom artists: the indie singer-songwriter, and the hip-hop beat maker. While Barry doesn’t rap over his beats, his mixture of ambient yet driving beats with intimate, soothing vocals creates a sound that walks between various sonic realms. Thumping bass, rainfall textures, harmonic strings and smooth synth progressions are just a portion of Barry’s beat arsenal. Though each song has a distinct tone to it, the common elements of reverb-rich effects and silky vocals tether the tracks together in unity.
Check out his latest album Real at his bandcamp page. Some key tracks include “Granite,” “Blur” and “Retiro Park.”