The latest offering from Dundee’s Nick Shane is “Louder Than Now“, and is set to be the title track of his eight studio album.
If you don’t know Nick already, he describes himself as a “UK mod-punk-indie songwriter” and having previously reviewed his single “Don’t Bite Back Baby (It’s Alright)” – I am inclined to agree.
Starting off with the artwork, I really rate it, when I say it’s simple, I don’t mean it’s low-quality, I mean in the sense of less is more and with this, the perfect blend of colours and the font/graphics of the title stand out, bright, loud and in-you-face colours, which to me, reflect the title perfectly, I really like it and it would catch my eye if I saw it in a vinyl shop etc.
To the actual song itself then, standing at just under four and a half minutes long, I was confident not a second was going to be wasted, as it went straight in with what felt like a punk-rock type riff of the guitar, which slowly seemed to blend an acoustic feel to it too, which I rated.
The vocals kick in at roughly 20 seconds, which I think was the sweet spot to do so, I’m personally not a fan of a long intro (usually at least anyway), and it’s clear from the get-go that there is a real depth to the lyrics, certainly an injection of political beliefs and taking a stab wherever, for example “I can see the cancer growing…” – a strong, yet impactful lyric on it’s own, but also not surprising as Nick has never been one to shy away from political opinion or social justice in his work and the title itself is a nod and a highlight to the content of it.
For me, I feel it’s different as I listen out for lyrics as such, I think it would take the average person a couple of listens to clock onto what the song is about, but either way, Nick has put what maybe a strong political view into a very easy listen and in quite a poignant, poetic way, in my opinion.
There is also some brilliant female vocals blended in and some impressive guitar solos injected in too, the musicianship is certainly to be admired.
The only criticism I have, is that whilst I appreciate the skill and what not in the instrumentals, they just go on a bit too long for me personally, I’d rather have less of them, maybe even up to 30 seconds less, and let the vocals do more, but it certainly doesn’t make the track worse by any means, it’s just my personal preference.
Overall, a solid track with a brilliant base, fantastic musical elements injected in and giving views like this a bit of a new lease of life, a refreshing way to hear them, regardless of where you stand musically and/or politically.
SEE WHAT NICK SHANE IS UP TO HERE
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