Shadow Crafter debuts at Jive Hive Live in Albany

To catch a performance at Jive Hive Live, one need not worry about TicketMaster queues or dynamic pricing.

Instead, you just need to be lucky enough to be invited to the private recording studio.

Most recently, the fortunate few were friends and family of Shadow Crafter, a music collective blending elements of synth-pop, electro-pop and rap with metal. The Oct. 28 performance was Shadow Crafter’s first ever.

Led by Schenectady musician Ian Baldwin – who returned to the stage for the first time in six years on Tuesday- guitarists Alex Roumanidakis and Zach Linart, along with drummer Nick Masucci, round out the group.

The genesis of Shadow Crafter is Baldwin’s listening habits during the COVID-19 pandemic, when grew an affinity for the synth-heavy sounds.
“I’ve known these guys longer than I’ve liked to,” joked Baldwin as he gestured toward his bandmates. “So they were pretty obvious picks for me in terms of bringing this music to life.”

Baldwin also provides session vocals for Juiblex, an Albany-based project with Masucci at the helm. Linart and Masucci were part of The Northway, a punk band on “indefinite hiatus as of 2021.” Roumanidakis is a vocalist with Capital Region metal band The Antartican.

The group put out its first single in 2022 and has continued writing music since in preparation for their debut performance. A handful of singles are out on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. The Jive Hive Live performance can be viewed on YouTube.
“It’s a lot of kind of embracing the fact that life is full of ups and downs,” Baldwin said of the group’s writing style. “Unfortunately, sometimes life is more down than it is up, but it’s about learning to withstand the sort of dark spots of your life.”

At the end of the night, Baldwin had one takeaway.

“We need to play more shows. That was fun.”

This article originally published at Shadow Crafter debuts at Jive Hive Live in Albany.