Part face melting guitar track, part cautionary tale. Think Tom Waits meets Jimi Hendrix.

Creature of the Night

2099 - Under the giant subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa lives a tribe of mermaids with curious healing powers. A human mission to Europa discovers them and consequently takes one hostage and is on a journey back to Earth.

Space Songs

Mermaids of Europa

"I'm content with you being lighter than a feather" sing the characters in this song about living in an imaginary world with extravagant castles made of air.
Abøn is the female vocals you here as well as co-writer for the song.

Real Enough

I love idioms and one day I was pondering the saying “we’re from different planets…” This got me thinking of writing a song about two alien lovers that actually ARE from different planets. With the help of co-producer Gillian Harwin, I wrote this tongue in cheek lighthearted story of a guy in a space age bar trying to pick up an alien babe.
On this track is Pedrinho Augusto, drums; Giovanni Giusti, bass; Abøn, background vocals; Gillian Harwin co-producer; Kartikeya Dixit, mix engineer; Joey Angus; recording engineer; James Kelly, mastering engineer.

Different Planets

Happy Valentine'd Day! Who's that jazzy lil' shuffle in your life?

Jazzy Lil' Shuffle

Michael Shanks is a carefree musician, singer-songwriter and bandleader from Texas whose performances have thrilled audiences from Buenos Aires to Beijing. His unique blend of psychedelic rock, funky grooves and storytelling lyrics paints vibrantly sonorous images in the listener’s mind. Shanks’s most recent single, “Creature of the Night”, has been called the darkly whimsical lovechild of Jimi Hendrix and Tom Waits.  Michael is also a seasoned touring guitarist who has shared the stage with numerous world-renowned artists such as Suzanne Vega, Mando Saenz, Duncan Sheik, Jovino Santos Neto, Caretta Bell, and Down North. 

Born in the wild, worldly sprawl of Houston, Texas, from a very young age Michael experienced music from around the globe. At home his family would jam the likes of the Doors, CCR and even Beethoven, but out in Houston’s thriving arts scene he was introduced to Ravi Shankar, Philip Glass, Joe Guitar Hughes, Astor Piazzolla and countless other internationally known musical innovators. This melting pot of music paved the way for Michael’s broad musical vision that looks beyond borders or genres.

Look out this fall for his upcoming EP, Space Sounds: from the Deepest Orbits to the Nearest Hearts.

Michael Shanks

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