After six years and seven self-released cassettes, the time has finally come for Shop Regulars to commit their singular vision to LP. The resultant, eponymously titled Shop Regulars is truly a distillation of concept and a beautiful example of what can happen when you patiently and consistently chip away at an idea over a long period of time.

Formed by Portland guitarist Matt Radosevich after the demise of his former outfit, the much-beloved Honey Bucket, Shop Regulars has developed into something of a local institution. More than one man’s vanity project, Radosevich is a band leader in the classic sense, recruiting a revolving door cast of friends to sit in for a while before shaking things up again. “Regulars” coming and going with the music serving as a hub around which they interact in myriad combinations.

Despite this ever-changing stream of lineups and personalities, the band has maintained a remarkably steady sense of identity. Each new release has seen the core idea pushed a little further and "Shop Regulars" continues this outward and upward trajectory. The original touchstones of the sound—something like the hypnotic repetition of Bo Diddley meets the broken abstraction of the Magic Band and early Fall—have been thoroughly absorbed and refracted into a unique and truly peerless signature. Radosevich’s coolly delivered vocals float over a tangle of porcupine guitar and clattering percussion. The sophisticated musicianship of drummer Patrick Barrett (the only other consistent fixture of the group besides Radosevich) holds the whole thing together, getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff without ever falling off. Shambolic in feel but tightly controlled, each song seems designed to go on infinitely if left unchecked.

Shop Regulars is the sound of continuum, events acting in and out of relation to one another, repetition holding steady amid the bustle of life.

- Bob Desaulniers