Shaylee - Portland, OR

Shaylee band photo

Biography

Shaylee is the songwriting project and avatar of Elle Archer, a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon. Toeing the line between power pop, post-rock, and psych-rock, Elle's music feels simultaneously familiar and totally unique. DIY to the core, everything you hear on a Shaylee song was played by Elle herself in her home studio, including the mixing. Shaylee exists as an outlet for Elle to document her life through music, so with each successive album, you’ll get to know her a little more as she learns more about herself. 

Recent Press

". . . 90s indie rock and power pop ideas run through [Ophelia] in a charming and winning fashion. There is a big expressive quality to it all that dazzles with big guitar hooks, colorful synths, and one hell of a catchy chorus." - We All Want Someone To Shout For

"[Audrey is] a cathartic piece of musical wizardry . . ." - Xune Mag

"‘Audrey’ by Shaylee, sets aside the departure of the unfathomable, and puts crystal layers of formative revelry into the soul of it all." - Come Here Floyd

". . . sensitive and impactful lyrics . . . hypnotic rhythms" - Analogue Trash

Short-Sighted Security
Short-Sighted Security
Short-Sighted Security
Short-Sighted Security

Short-Sighted Security

• FIRST 91 COPIES ARE PART OF OUR KRS30 PINK SERIES OF SPECIAL PRESSINGS TO HELP CELEBRATE KILL ROCK STARS 30TH ANNIVERSARY
• HAND NUMBERED WITH A STICKER OF AUTHENTICITY
• LIMITED TO 91 COPIES


Elle Archer’s project Shaylee is the result of great persistence and triumph – a musical reckoning that nonetheless dips its toe into pools of swirling darkness as it fights to see the light. Forthcoming album Short-Sighted Security is most often Archer’s way of hugging her knees to her chest as she processes all the months previous have wrought: COVID isolation; addiction; a lost job; a failed polyamorous relationship and its aftermath; the search for physical connection; aging, trauma, and the dissolution of mental health.

“That’s what the record is – just an enormous reaction to traumatic events happening to me in real-time,” says Archer, who recorded and produced the album in its entirety at home, partially as a way to stave off isolation and partially as a way to drown out the sound of her two former girlfriends hooking up upstairs.

The interplay of silence and noise on Short-Sighted Security is tonally massive, and Archer uses it to Shaylee’s advantage, stringing together a self-aware, paranoid entity that’s darker than anything she’s released in the past. 2020 was set to be Shaylee’s big, breakout year, and the immediate and conclusive cancellation of any immediate success led Archer down a different path than expected – a path that forced her to relive buried trauma and attempt to come to terms with herself through a period of intense difficulty.

1. Oblivion
2. Ophelia
3. Turned Inside
4. Health

5. #1 Destroyer Fan
6. The World Changes Around Us
7. Audrey

8. Save Up
9. Stranded Living Room
10. Please Talk to Me

11. Danger Decides
12. The Best Enemies

Cat. No. KRS675
Release date: March 18, 2022

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Audrey
Audrey
Audrey
Audrey

Audrey

 * * * COMES WITH INSTANT DOWNLOAD * * *

Released on Trans Day of Remembrance, "Audrey" and "Walking at the Ball" honor the lives of Audrey Howell and Venus Xtravaganza, respectively. Audrey was a local Portland musician and a close friend of my ex before her passing in early 2020. Venus was a drag ball performer in 1980s NYC until her murder in 1988, which was left unsolved. Both of these women were passionate artists beloved by many, their bright lights extinguished too soon.

1. Audrey

2. Walking At The Ball

Cat. No. KRS674
Release date: November 20, 2020

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