Shady Bard - From The Ground Up (Static Caravan)
2/5
By: Charlie Potter
Am I the only person in the world that thinks that if you're going to make nicey-nicey acoustic music, you really are going to have to pull something special out of the bag to keep it interesting? Why do people do it to themselves? I cannot be the only person that finds it an up hill struggle to find a way into this sort of music, 'accessible' though it supposedly is. Nine times out of ten (well, more like 2 times out of three...) I make it there in the end, and yeah, it sounds nice, and it's lovely, it's just great... but I don't think there's anyone who's been particularly starved of this kind of sound at the moment. But hey, at least there's nothing overtly annoying about it. At least...
'You painted all the trees, you didn't realise they'd die, just what did you think you'd achieve...?' Perhaps this line alone is enough for you to make up your own mind about how you'll feel about Shady Bard. I can see the analogy used does provide a certain resonance that may not occur if said in more of a direct way, but still I'm left feeling that it's a very strained, obtuse reference, that if he really wanted to communicate whatever his point is better, there would be a way that was a lot less clever but certainly more fitting to his purpose, whatever it may be. But ultimately the problem isn't so much with Shady Bard's lyrics, but with the inescapable amount of boring, dreary, painstaking chores of songs. There are people who reflect seriously on things that deeply trouble them, and then there are whiners.
Yet at times these songs snowball to create an intensity which is far more convincing. In 'Penguins' the wide array of sounds are really layered in a way that hides the less than evocative acoustic guitar that is at the centre of most of the tracks. Elsewhere, 'Summer Came When We Were Falling Out' presents two lines that are of particular note - 'work is hard, it takes all day and it makes you tired' being one I would agree with quite strongly. In fact, I feel it's nice to hear someone voice this opinion because I agree with it, as I'm sure will many others, but the line 'there's nothing wrong with making mistakes' is just clearly not the truth. Making mistakes should be avoided mainly for the reason that there is something wrong with making them. Duhhh.
In fact, I take back what I said earlier about there not being anything particularly annoying here, as this guy's voice is driving me down. He just sounds like he's trying to get chicks by sounding all sentimental and hard done by. We've all done it. Elsewhere, there's a great little instrumental track called 'Frozen Lake', but all too often it's as if Shady Bard are trying to sound like early Radiohead - something which, you'll notice, Radiohead themselves really strive away from. Once again the snowballing orchestral build ups are the only thing that really saves this album. I empathise with the environmentally conscious subject matter that occurs in many of these songs, but this is more like the sound of someone lamenting having already lost the battle rather than someone who wants to try and do something about it.
Stream clips of tracks from 'From The Ground Up' HERE.
Artists in this article: Shady Bard
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