I don’t think any genre has been party to as many disappearances or freakouts as the R&B subgenre they call “neo-soul” (which has devolved to basically mean any music made by an R&B musician that’s played on real instruments and/or doesn’t sound like it was made by Timbaland or The Neptunes and/or doesn’t feature Lil Wayne or Drake). Maxwell took off for the better part of eight years. Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo have been threatening comebacks forever. And Canadian singer/songwriter Remy Shand? He fell off the face of the Earth completely.
Not like the guy wasn’t talented. A fantastic singer/songwriter, his 2002 album “The Way I Feel” was a throwback gem. Atmospheric songs like first single “Take a Message” and “The Colour of Day” had the same seductive quality of Maxwell’s records with a little bit of Shuggie Otis thrown in. To boot, the guy played damn near every instrument on the album by himself. “The Way I Feel” went Gold and was nominated for a handful of Grammy awards. And then…nothing. So what the hell happened?
Strangely, no one knows. His Wikipedia page mentions that a follow-up was scheduled to commence recording in 2003, but was never completed. His website has been deactivated, and aside from a divorce in 2009, Shand seems to have vanished into thin air. Of course, one great album is better than no great albums, but I can’t help but think “The Way I Feel” would have led to bigger and better things.
Something also tells me that “The Way I Feel” is in Robin Thicke’s record collection…