Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Every generation believes itself to be the lucky ones, the ones that have been able to have everything thrown from the past and with the prospect of changing the future; in many respect they could be considered right, just in their belief that their take on the unspoilt riches of My Universe is one to grapple with and shape in their will.
The difference in one tiny aspect is that in The Shires, the elegance of Ben Earle and Chrissie Rhodes overlaying harmonies, each generation that is capable of understanding what the band have bought to British music history, is that My Universe is so much bigger than they can handle alone, it is a group, a duo of such importance that it requires the respect from each age group.
Following on from their superb debut album, Brave, The Shires have picked up the pace and taken the country song, already dipped in the nectar of the British pastoral, to another level, one that salutes the greats of the American genre but also one that overtakes and puts its cousin to shame.
The biggest selling ever Country act from the shores of Britain have produced an album in which the dominance of their American cohorts is challenged successfully and with style, panache and that mastery of British reserve, the one endearing factor that marks us out against those who share our tongue but cannot quite find the innocence of the right words.
From the outset of the opening track, the album plays with imagery; it concedes nothing to chance and the small explosion that goes off in the listener’s mind as they continue to experience the album is one that is uncontainable and creatively outstanding. In songs such as Beats To Your Rhythm, Not Even Drunk Right Now, the sense of loss that entwines itself round the listener’s heart in Daddy’s Little Girl Everything and You Never Gave Me and the stunning substance in A Thousand Hallelujahs, the album is a buzz with grace, detail and respect, it is an album that strengthens the admiration placed before the duo in their debut album and one that truly should be seen as the bench mark for the genre in these fragile shores.
The Shires’ My Universe is released on October 7th on Decca Records.
Ian D. Hall