Could it be that my computer has a secret quality music detector and it was trying to warn me? My computer isn't that advanced, in fact, most of the time it is just dysfunctional. It is sufficient enough to play a CD, however, this time it refused to play The Shore's self-titled debut album. The CD drive made an awful noise and then became morbidly silent. After about five attempts which included some yelling and violence, it played the album.
Congratulations A&R man Scott Patrick Austin; you've found a combination of the Verve, Coldplay, Train, and Filter all in one within the Shore. Too bad it sounds like it's all been done before and it has been. Everything on the album sounds too formulated which takes away all the passion in the songs that songwriter Ben Ashley tries to conjure up. When will major record labels stop searching for the next Beatles, the next Nirvana, the next Radiohead? Those bands already existed/exist; they should concentrate on more interesting talents.
Three-piece bands can get along most songs without a guest musician. The Shore is comprised of vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/mandolin player/timpani drummer Ben Ashley, bassist/keyboardist/congo drummer Kyle Mullarky, and underachiever drummer John Wilmer. They are multi-instrumentalists, but they needed a minimum of one other musician to a produce a full sound on their debut. How has this band ever performed live? They have the same musicians performing on their tracks; they should just make them permanent members. A three-piece band is not incredibly unique - especially if it does not genuinely have three members.*
My older brother always criticizes the music that I listen to; he usually just says "this sucks" every time I write my weekly review. This week's comment was fresh; "I've heard better songs in my dreams that aren't even real," my brother quipped as he listened to "Hard Road." I have to agree that the song is really bland. I usually love strings in songs; strings are a fairly simple way to make a song a little more enchanting. This string accompaniment, however, is buried under a thrash of guitars causing the strings to sound empty instead of sweet when the band drops out in the end.
My brother was still in the room when I listened to "Firefly" and he started to sing in falsetto with random lyrics about butterflies. Ashley hazily sings in an unearthly falsetto, "fireflies are dancing on the ceiling," so my brother probably did not hear the lyric; at least my brother picked up the intended fluttery feeling of the song. Ashley's airy falsetto parts in the song are sickening, not that it makes me feel nauseous, but rather it makes me feel that something bad is about to happen. And something bad does happen: the song continues with more falsetto measures and dizzying verses.
The sunny "Everything We Are" is the turning point in the album. It has a country twang that sounds different than the previous tracks, in which the Shore tries to emulate Brit-rock; this country-tinged songwriting continues on the rest of the album. "Everything We Are" has a simple sing-a-long chorus, "ooh, it's everything we are," that will catch the lazy listener's ear. "Coming Down" is another strained attempt at Brit-rock with the waves of guitars and the Thom-Yorke-wannabe howling. It has a touch of country and it actually creates a nice blend of genres.
The songs in which they feature all six musicians tend to be of better quality. It creates a fuller sound, but the musicians do not overstate their parts. The instrumental parts are more supportive of Ashley's strong vocals in songs like "Hold On" which presents an appropriate balance between vocals and instruments.
The album is mediocre at best; I have listened to it numerous times while using the computer and I sometimes forgot that I was even listening to it. There are no dazzling sections that have pulled me from what I was doing to remark upon them. It would probably fare well as nice background music in a television show or a movie. In fact, "Different Ways" was featured on an episode of Fox's North Shore.
*According to the Shore website they supposedly have a fourth member now, but they fail to mention his name and bassist Kyle Mullarky's name in the bio. Several sources state the fourth member is Cliff Magretta, who actually plays guitar on the album, but is not credited as an official band member. However, on their My Space account the fourth member is listed as Jason Soda.
