I will admit, I wasn’t sure how to feel going into The Shires’ debut album ‘Brave’. They formed and gained popularity around the time I began blogging so I have watched them grow from promising openers at a London showcase to Universal-signed country pop powerhouses with a significant following and plenty of mainstream press. Between them and another homegrown act called Ward Thomas, country music made specifically this side of the Atlantic (rather than American imports) began to catch people’s attention. Both duos have led the wave of popularity of country music in the UK, and have been at the forefront of campaigning for its inclusion among mainstream popular culture. Ward Thomas released their impressive debut album ‘From Where We Stand’ back in September, and had already proved themselves in the studio and on the stage. I was nervous, therefore, to hear what The Shires would present to those impatiently waiting ears, appreciating the position they held in country music’s UK-based progress. The record had to represent modern country music, with substance, without stereotypes, and definitely with their own stamp on things. That’s a lot of pressure.
And they deliver, in part. I have always noted the remarkable “poppiness” to their work, and indeed their current single ‘Friday Night’ is complete with synths, drum loops and a super-pop approach to melody, lyrics and production. There is a banjo involved, but it’s relatively low in the mix, and the original, perhaps rootsier version is nowhere to be seen (it’s specifically noted everywhere that this is the Jeremy Wheatley remix). At first when I listened to it I was somewhat saddened that they had chosen to go down such a commercial route, but upon repeat listens I found it so infectiously catchy I could hardly resist tapping my foot, singing along and turning up the volume. The same goes for the other songs that are perhaps a little more pop-orientated and vanilla for my usual liking; they may not be so twangy or “country”, but they are catchy as hell (that’s a technical term). ‘Tonight’, their previous single in advance of this project, has a slow build but peaks with a killer chorus that goes down incredibly well live. It’s like taking the adult contemporary style of Lady Antebellum, and shooting it in the arm with a sense of youth and a dash of excitement. And even though tracks like the incessantly chipper, upbeat ‘All Over Again’ have been done similarly by so many artists, they manage to remain compelling enough with their songcraft to make such polished performances worth listening to at least once (if not many more times).
And yes, they do predominantly draw from pop. ‘Black And White’, for example, does bear more than a passing resemblance to X Factor winning fodder, beginning with gentle piano and Crissie’s angelic vocals and slowly building to a big finish, complete with polished guitars and drums and smooth string section. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the reality singing show plucked the track out for their nationally-televised finale in December. ‘I Just Wanna Love You’ does something similar structure- and arrangement-wise, but comes across more convincingly lyrically, and features a far prettier melody than its fellow album cut. Too, despite the title track growing from a very stripped-back ballad to a big arena rock belter, the lyrics and fantastic vocal delivery from the pair manage to maintain their individuality, and remind us that both of them are two of the best singers that we’ve heard in a very, very long time. That shouldn’t be understated, as not only are their harmonies breath-takingly sublime, but they also both shine perfectly well on their own, and that allows them to play around with duet-style songs as well as just sharing lead vocal duties.
All that said, however, they surprise me on ‘Jekyll & Hyde’. Far heavier and in-your-face than the other tracks (it fashions itself a bluesy southern rock sound), it draws a new animal out from both of them, but most especially from Crissie. Suddenly we can hear a throaty growl, a passion in her that was too much like a fluttering butterfly before, and that combined with Ben positively attacking the melody makes for a kickass song that I definitely didn’t expect.
I thought that would be my stand-out song as I continued on through my first listen, but then we reached ‘Made In England’. The Shires have covered the idea of meshing the British and the American before, playing on their English heritage in the likes of ‘Nashville Grey Skies’ for a slightly token offering. I was expecting the same of ‘Made In England’, but instead what met my ears was a thoughtful, gentle and genuine tribute to their home. Yes, there are some known stereotypes, like rain, tea and fish & chips, but it functions perhaps as a message to those who might be too quick to write them off as lusting after Nashville. I understand; no matter how much Music City is beautiful to me, there is still a part of me buried in England, and it’ll stay there as long as I live. Our homes, no matter how far we drift from them, are always a part of us, and The Shires really seem to get that on this track that gave me chills.
Those chills continued as we ticked over onto the final offering, ‘How Many Love Songs’. Out of the blue, the pristine polish and pop ambition was nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by an amateur-recorded live acoustic ballad that could have come straight from a Civil Wars album. After ten tracks where I could hear them reaching for the stars, suddenly I could hear them reaching deep inside and pulling out some of their true potential. And it was powerful, more powerful than anything I thought they were capable of. If The Shires get the opportunity to record more albums together (which I’m sure they will), we can only imagine what is to come.
