Perhaps not since Lou Reed immortalized his cast of street-punks and vagabonds in garage-rock arrangements have images of New York life, from the sidewalks to the subways to the squatter tenements, from Coney Island to the Bronx, been so aptly paired with the sound of crunching guitars, bass and drums.

Like Reed, Shadow has the poet’s gift for imagery ("Platform cheek to cheek/The paper hides the morning geeks/Signs read in shock speak/Sunglassed to the knees").

Charles Mingus haunts the proceedings, as do Allen Ginsberg, Thelonious Monk and Jack Kerouac, but Shadow is an original storyteller, painting vivid portraits of the romance and terror of life in the world’s greatest city.