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Look At My Records!  - Song of the Week - I'll Be Your Therapy - 12/14/2020 

I only discovered Shonali Bhowmik a few weeks ago, but since then, I’ve been curiously digging into her unique backstory and catalog. She’s fronted several excellent indie rock bands over the years, including the Atlanta-based Ultrababyfat and New York City’s Tigers and Monkeys. Back in 2011, she released a gorgeous solo record called 100 Oaks Revival, and she’s also involved in several hilarious comedic endeavors. Most recently, she released a new home-recorded solo single called “I’ll Be Your Therapy,” a chill indie-pop tune that aims to lower the sky-high stress levels brought on by the events of this tumultuous year. 

Building off of the more stripped down and intimate sounds of 100 Oaks Revival, Bhowmik traverses a bit into the world of bedroom style recordings, incorporating a lot of relaxed sounding electronic elements, and a mesmerizing, looping acoustic guitar that makes the song sound quite literally, therapeutic. She nails a tranquil vocal and guitar hook early on in the song and doesn’t let go, as the lyrics offer a helping hand and lend an empathetic ear to those that may be feeling overwhelmed. She also juxtaposes this outreach with some reflection on her own anxieties by asking at several points, “I’m still so curious. What do you make of me?” The combination of the song’s sweet melody and comforting lyrics are the perfect pick me up to help get you through the final stretch of this hellacious year. So, give it a listen! - Thomas Gallo

Divine Magazine - 12/20/2020  - Shonali Bhowmik shares chill indie-pop single “I’ll Be Your Therapy”

Vents Magazine - Interview NYC Shonali Bhowmik - 12/1/2020

Celeb Mix Exclusive: Shonali Bhowmik talks about “Saturday Destroyer”, ahead of album release 8.27.18 by Ayushi

Getting To Know Tigers and Monkeys - by Mayra Ramales

Call Me Adam - 8.1.15 - Call Answered: Shonali Bhowmik: Bed Bugs and Hot Pockets by Adam Rothenberg

Stagebuddy Review:  Bed Bugs and Hot Pockets - May 2015

"Shonali Bhowmik's play ....grapples with the question of saving the self in a concrete jungle such as New York.  She sets the work in a CVS, frequented by stoners, workaholics, mixed race coupes and one classic New Yorker - the one that dreams of the better New York when everyone was friendly and kind and had time to connect, a time no one else remembers but her."

~ Arpita Mukherjee 

Broadway World - 5.4.15
Bed Bugs and Hot Pockets a short play written by Shonali Bhowmik has been selected for the DUTF 2015 Theater Festival. 

Culture Collide - 1.16.15
If there’s one thing you do today, take 20 minutes to watch Sardines out of a Can, a shoestring-budget short film about a girl, her gay BFF, and her freeze-dried cat navigating the social idiocies of NYC while an indie rock soundtrack plays in the background. It’s written and directed by uber-productive Shonali Bhowmik (she’s also a lawyer, comedienne, producer, and musician) and shares a likeness to Broad City and anything Jenny Slate.
 
C+ Comedy -  1.12.15
Shonali Bhowmik is a Beast in her Comedy Profile 
 
Fast Company - How to Make Your Creative Longshots Come To Life - 12.18.14
Even with comedy and filmmaking currently at the forefront, Bhowmik has continued to work as a musician, fronting the band Tigers and Monkeys, releasing her own album of solo material, and composing music for TV. Music, she says, is the one thing that doesn't stress her out, and will always be her creative outlet if all else fails.

~ Evie Nagy
 
Sonic Bids Blog - 5 Van Etiquette Tips to Ensure Your Bandmates Won't Hate You on Tour  - 11.13.14
Shonali Bhowmik's five road survival tactics to ensure you band remains a band after the tour is over.


 
 
 
Loud, trashy, and loose, Tigers And Monkeys unleashed their latest album, The Animals Will Forgive Us Again, onto the world earlier this year. Fronted by feminist musician turned comedian Shonali Bhowmik, the group blends gritty guitar sounds with a bit of an off-kilter aesthetic, something that’s totally evident in the new video for “Vampire In A Dirty City,” which The A.V. Club is premiering below. Directed by Joe Mischo, the clip is a little bit Bollywood, a little bit Tim And Eric, and a lot about a vampire in a cooking show, played by Bhowmik. The clip also stars Eugene Mirman, because, hey, why not?


~Marah Eakin

Connect Savannah - The creator:  Shonali Bhowmik - 11.20.2013


Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta, GA - Live Music Picks - 8.26.11

"This former Atlanta musician lives in New York where she leads a band called Tigers & Monkeys, and works with comedy collective Variety Shac. The rock crunch of her bands, including Atlanta favorites Ultrababyfat, takes a back seat to her songwriting prowess and pop smarts on her solo debut “100 Oaks Revival.” Recorded in her childhood hometown of Nashville, the album is full of deft instrumental touches, especially the piano figures that dangle from “Shake It Rock ’n’ Roller” lending the song a sinister edge. The jaunty bounce of “Star Treatment” contrasts with the song’s mysterious monsters, scars and broken people. It’s a remarkable balancing act that makes for one of the album’s memorable highlights, but there’s a lot to love on “100 Oaks Revival.”"

--Shane Harrison

Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC - Sound Bites - 8.25.11

"Bhowmik, who now serves as leader for indie rock outfit Tigers and Monkeys and is based in New York, recently released her solo debut, “100 Oaks Revival.” She says the record was inspired by her hometown of Nashville with blues and country tendencies, but if you were a fan of Ultrababyfat there’s still plenty familiar about it. It begins with the haunting minor chords of “All Her Things Come Easily” and turns a bit bluesy on “Hold My Place.” “Star Treatment” bounces along like one of the Avett Brothers’ piano-driven tracks and Bhowmik’s Southerness and the old playful girl group feel emerges. “Alligator’s Tale” rides a sort of Jack White riff. “What’s the Standstill” comes closest to the pop charm of Ultrababyfat."

--Courtney Devores

Metro Pulse, Knoxville, TN - 8.31.11

 

"Only one of the disc’s nine songs is truly solo—the disc features a full studio band and contributions from producer Paul Burch, whose Nashville studio was used for the sessions. But there is a cryptic intimacy to the lyrics (“You had to share your sense of sweat and smell/In order for the demons to subside,” from “Shake It Rock-N-Roller”) that sounds new.
 
“I‘ve never had stage fright,” Bhowmik says. “I’m pretty fearless in a rock ’n’ roll band setting, and in this lineup now I have four people who are playing with me. But it’s still feels like I’m so much more naked. It’s strange. It’s therapeutic, but it also feels like I’m teetering on this whole other place.""

-- Matthew Everett


Connect Savannah, Savannah, GA - 8.23.11

 
"Her name is hard to pronounce, but Shonali Bhowmik is, well, kind of unforgettable. The native of Nashville, now a resident of New York City, has just put out her first solo record, 100 Oaks Revival ... and its sweetly emotive pop-flavored folk reminds me - a lot - of Bangle Susanna Hoffs and the stuff she did with David Roback and Kendra Smith on a little-heard Paisley Underground album called Rainy Day."

--Bill DeYoung

 


Savannah Morning News, Savannah, GA - 8.24.11 - An interview with Shonali by Linda Sickler


Charleston City Paper, Charleston, SC - 8.22.11

"If songwriter Shonali Bhowmik's long-running career in pop-rock demonstrated giddy and raw tension, her solo album detours into a new mood altogether. A native of Nashville, she spent years singing and playing guitar in melodic indie-rock bands in Atlanta before relocating to New York City. Bhowmik's newly released solo album 100 Oaks Revival, a bare-bones collection, aims for something much more melancholic."

"Morose, dissonant, and eerie, 100 Oaks Revival's opening track "All Her Things Come Easily" is a startling surprise to those familiar with Bhowmik's pop-rock past. "Star Treatment" is a drowsy gem with a swingin' beat that may remind listeners of the more festive offerings of the Elephant 6 collective. "Alligator's Tale," one of the upbeat songs of the set, bounces with a gritty heaviness. Even in a straight-ahead rocker like "Hold My Place," there's an airy, chilled-out sparseness. The strummy "What's Inside of Your Heart," a snappy ballad with Bhowmik handling acoustic guitar and vocals, closes the album with beautiful harmonies."

-- T. Ballard Lesemann


Stomp and Stammer, Atlanta, Georgia - 5.2.11

Tigers and Monkeys have so reliably punched out. The overall mood of the recording is more wistful, relaxed, reflective and at times decidedly melancholy. That said, it's a beautiful, slow-building, softly stirring pop album, with direct, effective lyrics and more expansive instrumental interplay than Bhowmik's been known for-"

--Jeff Clark


 Unfairly Talented Entertainer Shonali Bhowmik Goes Solo | newyork.nearsay.com | 03.14.11

"Shonali Bhowmik is, at the very least, a double threat: part of the fierce female comedy troupe Variety Shac, and leader of the Brooklyn band Tigers and Monkeys. (The fact that she's also a lawyer is just plain unfair.) Her new solo album, 100 Oaks Revival, is a bit different from the hard-rocking work she has done with her band: as she describes it, it's mellower and spookier. The show promises surprise guests, but one of those cats is already out of the bag: Janeane Garofalo. I won't be too surprised if she spends her between-song lulls explaining Fermat's last theorem while performing emergency appendectomies."

—Brett Ackerman

The 100 Oaks Revival Interview with Shonali Bhowmik - Prince of the City,  NY, NY - 3.17.11

"Shonali Bhowmik has spent years in New York’s music and comedy scenes. I caught up to her to talk about her new album, the benefits of the internet to the music industry and being a Southern Belle…"

---Gamal Hennessy