For musicians, nothing makes a song better than a heated debate. While you won't hear anyone arguing in "Take It" by The Shabelles, it could be the soundtrack for a brawl in slow motion.
The fracas surrounding this ditty has to do with the opening keyboard part. At first, you might think there's a cat running across the synths, or that a Simon game is lodged in your stereo. But within a few seconds, it morphs into a cheery guitar strum caressed by pleasant swooshing sounds.
According to singing ringleader Adam Schabow, the power-pop five-piece couldn't agree how those first few seconds should sound. "We actually finished with kind of a combination of the two parts, and I absolutely love how it turned out," he says.
The conflict underlying this tiny moment of noodling gives the song a fightin' spirit. While a sweet melody and lyrics like "Say the word and I'm all yours" set the stage for starry-eyed daydreaming, the song swells to a shout of "Take it if you want it," making you want to holler along.
Schabow says the recording is a good representation of how the Shabelles sound onstage. The band didn't set out to put it on their new album, Breaking Up With The Shabelles, but a last-second burst of creativity changed everything.
"We actually thought we had all the songs recorded for the album, but then we started playing around with this new song for the fun of it," he admits. "We all dug it quite a bit and decided to record it for the album."
The band summoned their collective vocal powers to craft some harmonies, and before long, the project was a wrap. "The harmonies blend together so nicely at the end when it starts rocking," Schabow says. "It's super-fun yelling 'Take it!" over them."
Listen to an MP3 of "Take It" is available in the related files at right. The band will perform this song and other selections from Breaking Up With The Shabelles it hosts a release party at the Frequency on Saturday, April 23.
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