Review of: ‘Accidentally On Purpose’ by The Shires

The lack of success The Shires have had during their short history frustrates me. No, that might seem like quite an odd statement to make, they are the biggest selling UK country act of all time after all. But that's not my problem. What I find particularly frustrating is the lack of pop crossover success that, at this point, they undoubtedly deserve. With the right marketing, I'm convinced that 'Beats To Your Rhythm' or 'My Universe' could have crossed over to pop radio.

However, with the lead single 'Guilty', it looked like their new album 'Accidentally On Purpose' was going to get that pop crossover treatment. This would have been good news, but the song was just not very good, even if both Ben Earle and Chrissie Rhodes are both great, charismatic performers.

This did slightly dampen my expectations going into this third full length studio album, but this is The Shires we're dealing with, if anyone can make this mainstream pop country sound work well, it would be them. So, what did I find on 'Accidentally On Purpose'?

Honestly, very little of note. 'Accidentally On Purpose' is the kind of album that I had high expectations for, but ended up falling completely flat for me for a reason that so much easier to explain than it should be. If anything, 'Accidentally On Purpose' just makes me think of the album that could have been, and that smoothly takes us onto the one consistent element of this entire album, our performers. Over the course of their previous two albums, both Ben Earle and Chrissie Rhodes proved incredibly charismatic and powerful vocalists when they've been given interesting material to work with, and it's certainly the case here. Although, sometimes the vocal arrangements and melodies don't give either vocalist the room to be as expressive as they could be. 'Guilty' is a prime example with a hook that does the complete opposite of flexing the huge vocal ranges our performers have that could be used in order to sell the good time party vibe that the song is going for. The song 'Echo' isn't much better in that regard, but, generally, I enjoy the performances on this album. The more subtle deliveries on 'Loving You Too Long' and 'Accidentally On Purpose', and the more intense presence behind the subtle gallop on the hook of 'Ahead Of The Storm' being standouts.

The production is more of a mixed bag. I’ll say this: this is a pop album with some country flourishes rather than the other way around. While I was not immediately put off on this album based on that fact alone, the thin and frail touches to so many of the songs here is a little off putting. The whining electronic effects on the intro of ‘Guilty’, the clumsy and very dry feel of ‘Echo’, and then there’s just a bunch of songs that do very little for me. ‘World Without You’ and ‘Speechless’ in particular leave me colder than they really should do, and on a pop country album like this, that’s that last thing you want.

That doesn’t mean to say it’s all bad. There is a soothing feel to how the guitar melody is mixed on ‘Sleepwalk’ that I did like, as well as the richer country touches that anchor the pretty damn good hooks on ‘The Hard Way’, ‘Accidentally On Purpose’, and the booming chorus on ‘Stay The Night’ that I kind of loved, even if the percussion generally feels thinner than it needs to be.

The bigger problem with ‘Accidentally On Purpose’ is the complete lack of any remotely interesting or new ideas in the song writing department. The problem is simple: there’s just not a lot of dramatic stakes to a lot of these songs. Without stakes, there’s just not a lot of pathos in these songs, however much Earle and Rhodes try to sell them. Take ‘Other Peoples Things’ from ‘My Universe’. There was something gripping and somewhat upsetting about the idea of everything you’ve ever owned stacked up in boxes for you to dig through and fin wonders you never knew you had, whilst anyone else would simple dismiss it, not seeing the beauty in it like you do. In other words, there was a true, deep, and undisputed pathos to that. This album on the other hand is rarely as adventurous. ‘The Hard Way’ plays the cliché of ‘you never really know what you’ve got / when you know it’s not coming back’, while both ‘Echo’ and ‘Guilty’ are mindless party tracks, with the latter track trying to justify itself through this vague idea of it being a crime to have fun: ‘If it’s a crime to have a good time then I’m guilty’.

The love songs like ‘Strangers’, ‘River Of Love’ and ‘World Without You’ don’t offer anything close to The Shires’ best love songs like ‘Black And White’ or ‘Naked’ from ‘My Universe’, and feel ultimately inessential, despite the latter track having an amazing hook

It’s the final song, ‘Loving You Too Long’ that connected with me most. I love songs about how time deteriorates relationships, but the best of these songs (‘Flagship’ by Jason Isbell) tend to come from an outside perspective looking in, but instead, The Shires take a complex role in a relationship that has gone on for longer than either partner could have possibly expected. In other words, the complete opposite of a song like ‘Flagship’ by Jason Isbell. It’s masterfully pulled off.

But otherwise, I can acknowledge that there is a time and a place for this kind of music, and it’s getting a light 3/5 from me as a result as well as a tentative recommendation, but listen to ‘My Universe’ and brave first. Only if you’re interested coming out of those two albums, check this out.

Rating: 3/5

Best Songs: ‘Loving You Too Long’, ‘Ahead Of The Storm’, ‘World Without You’

Worst Songs: ‘Echo’

Review of: ‘Golden Hour’ by Kacey Musgraves

I feel like I've been spoilt this year given the number of albums from artists I love scheduled to come out in April / May time, and this is the first big one from an artists that introduced me to traditional country and owe a lot to in terms of how my music taste has been shaped in recent years. Just like basically everyone, I was won over straight from the off with her stunning, borderline classic 2013 album 'Same Trailer Different Park' and haven't been able to look back since; an album that, for the record, entirely holds up to this day.

And while her sophomore album, 2015's 'Pageant Material' is a slightly weaker album due to the dramatic stakes being significantly weakened, I would still be looking forward to a new album if it was coming. And now we've got it in the form of 'Golden Hour', my most anticipated album of the year. Did we get the classic we all know she can make?

Simply put, no. In fact, I would go as for to say that this is the furthest that Kacey Musgraves has been over the course of her three album discography which is endlessly disappointing, as I said, this was my most anticipated album of they year, and to see it come out like this is a damn shame. However, it would certainly be unfair to say that 'Golden Hour' is a bad album either, as this is far from the case. What Musgraves and her collaborating songwriters and producers bring to the table with this album is a lot of potentially interesting ideas that let fragments of the Kacey Musgraves I loved in 2013, interspersed with love songs that can occasionally feel indistinct.

What is certainly not indistinct here is the familiar voice of Kacey Musgraves, and while she is at no point as subtly expressive as she was on the best moments of 'Same Trailer Different Park', but she still has a great voice which she effortlessly flexes throughout this album. That is, apart from the interlude 'Mother' where she sounds a half step away from RaeLynn for some reason. But, on an overwhelming majority of this album, like the standout 'Love Is A Wild Thing' that shows off Musgraves' great upper range, the closer 'Rainbow', and the rather upsetting subtler delivery on 'Space Cowboy' are all tracks that showcase Musgraves' excellent voice. I just wish the production that she have behind her was more consistent.

That doesn't mean to say that there aren't some decent moments in the production too, though. Musgraves and her production do have great tastes in chord progressions on the piano ballads like 'Mother' and 'Rainbow', I'll give her a lot of credit for that. Not to mention the excellent jangling groove on 'Love Is A Wild Thing', the stab at disco funk that goes surprisingly decently on 'High Horse', and the phenomenal reverb touched hook on 'Space Cowboy', these are all great moments, don't get me wrong, but for every time something goes well on 'Golden Hour' the production team lets a lot of poor tonal choices slip through. Why the awful sounding vocal snippet opening 'Oh, What A World' was included on the finished version of the track I've got no idea, as well as the synthetic fragment on the first verse; there's a a similar problem with the grading synthetic guitar tones on the solo on the borderline synth pop 'Velvet Elvis', with flat vocal production that seems to entirely ignore Musgraves' fundamental appeal.

It also seems that the tightly weaved melodies that made up 'Same Trailer Different Park' and to a lesser extent 'Pageant Material' have been significantly softened, and, on songs like 'Space Cowboy', seemed to have picked up a lot of hazy atmosphere that does kind of clash with some of the more rigid tracks here. Going from 'Slow Burn' to 'Lonely Weekend' is a bit jarring.

It also appears that no one has a clue what their doing with the percussion,which is either painfully thin, yet overweight like on 'Lonely Weekend' where the mixing is a complete nightmare, especially on the hook, or equally thin, and incredibly underwhelming like on 'Happy And Sad' making for a generally confused and unsettled listing experience that feels nowhere near as grounded as it could have done, but maybe I'm being too harsh. After all, the element that won over fans for Kacey Musgraves in 2013 was the writing.

And, once again, your getting a mixed bag, with a lot more love songs this time round. Like the fairly innocent bouncy 'Butterflies' with the extended butterfly metaphor being pretty cute, but what I found more striking was the line 'grandma cried when I pieced my nose' on the opening track 'Slow Burn' which picks up a lot more emotional weight when she discusses her own mother on 'Mother', there is definitely pathos to that. 'Space Cowboy' also works by taking the imagery of a horse in its field and gently crafting it into something so much more; just further evidence that Kacey Musgraves is sill as talented a songwriter as ever. Nowhere on this album is that more apparent on the excellent track 'Love Is A Wild Thing' that may be one of the best songs I've heard all year with heartfelt lyrics linking love to nature, highlighting the organic and inescapable nature of love itself. Gorgeous song.

The closer 'Rainbow' falls into a similar category, a track that discusses the difficulty that one undergoes in overcoming ones problems, but also the rewarding nature of overcoming said problems all through Kacey Musgraves rich and gorgeously framed lyrics. 'Lonely Weekend' perhaps goes even further where Musgraves tries to insist to herself that she's content with being alone at the weekend, but by that hook, you realise that there's definitely more too it than that, she still describes herself as lonely after all.

The writing doesn't always stick, though. 'High Horse' is perhaps the most blatant example. Musgraves tries to tell some anonymous person to get out of town as they think they're so much cooler than everyone else, but every listen to that song just further convinces me that Kacey Musgraves was not the right singer to deliver this message. She is a better fit for love songs like 'Velvet Elvis' and 'Golden Hour', and 'Wonder Woman' but no love song on this album is comparable to 'Somebody to Love' or 'Late To The Party' from 'Pageant Material'.

To make the 'Pageant Material' comparison once more, 'Happy And Sad' tries to be the ultra relatable song about mingled emotions, but this isn't too far removed from what Musgraves did on 'Miserable', a far better song.

As it is, it may appear that I'm being too harsh towards an album that is indeed good. I will admit I did have huge expectations going in, but I genuinely thought that Kacey Musgraves was going to do something amazing with this album, but, as it is, it's merely good. Huge disappointment, but still an incredibly strong 3.5 / 5, but it should have been more.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Best Songs: 'Love Is A Wild Thing', 'Space Cowboy', 'Rainbow'

Worst Songs: 'Velvet Elvis', 'Golden Hour'