Tom Lynch

Singer-songwriter Shelley Short released "Oh Say Little Dogies, Why?" in 2003 on Keep Recordings to modest acclaim.

With only a few copies pressed, Short's chance at national success was limited, but that didn't stop many from comparing her sound to that of Cat Power or Iron & Wine. Growing tired of the scene in her hometown Portland, Oregon, she decided to move to Chicago.

"It was basically kind of a whim," she says of her move. "Definitely the music scene [of Chicago] was involved. But pretty much I just wanted to move. It's weird, coming from Portland. You never hear about the middle, it's only the West and East coasts."

Short began writing songs for her follow-up record, "Captain Wild Horse Rides the Heart of Tomorrow," just before she left Oregon, and finished just after she landed in Chicago. "The Chicago music scene is just different than the Portland music scene. Portland was just small, I knew a lot of people in it. It's refreshing to jump into a place where you don't know anybody, to start fresh. It's still really new to me. It's really exciting, really supportive. Not cliquey at all."

The new record has a much more elaborate sound when compared to Short's debut, featuring grand amounts of horns and strings, and including some drumming by The Decemberists' Rachel Blumberg and violin-work by Bright Eyes' Tiffany Kowalski. Short's vocals are hushed and dreamlike, intimate and soft, a perfect match with the expansive and reflective melodies she presents. It sounds a lot like snowfall.

"I had just moved to Chicago when we started recording," she says. "I felt like I was in Russia. We don't get snow in Portland, really, not like here. I love the snow though. I love how it's so extreme. I think it's kind of romantic."

Short, who does daytime duty as a nanny for two families, doesn't find too much difference between Chicago and Portland in their general acceptance of the kind of music she writes. "Since I'm from Portland--I grew up there--I kind of knew everyone, and it was hard to think of this as a professional thing or a serious thing to do. That has more to do with the mindset of just being from there. You probably could do [what I'm doing] in Portland, but [moving to Chicago] was just more about my own mindset and needing to get motivated."

Shelley Short plays February 4 at the Empty Bottle, 1035 North Western, (773)276-3600, 10pm. $9.

(2006-01-31)

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