• Shaky Hollows. Inside a Silver Locket.
Shaky Hollows is that band in the background of the Gothic western. On the flatbed truck, the rickety porch, in the next jail cell along. Their particular shtick in the context of our movie, is to be playing their folkie alt-country at the same revolutions per minute, regardless of the action. They know the bottle will win over the Bible and hearts are made to be broken. Shaky Hollows’ lead singer Casey Hilder lets us in on these universal truths over the 12 tracks here, in the hoarsely confessional tones of the wearily woebegone. This Dunedin foursome play all the licks and choreograph some watertight arrangements complete with sweet backing vocals. But our movie would not have suffered from a few more changes in tempo. — Tom McKinlay
