One just needs to be uplifted sometimes. Music has the power to upset and even devastate in some cases, but there are times when only optimistic music will have the most effect. If you’re looking for a pick-me-up, then look no further than the rather wonderful new EP from the Isle of Wight-based The Shutes [Facebook/Soundcloud]. Echo of Love has rather a lot going for it; its strongest asset is that the melodies that can be heard across its five songs cannot be faulted. They’ve taken their influences and distilled them into something purer. Overloading their songs with too many ideas and therefore making them cumbersome would weight them down considerably, but each of the new songs is direct and immediate.
Kicking off with the hazy grandeur of the title track, the 22-minute EP has great pacing; most of its songs are up-tempo, but when they want to slow things down a little, as they do on the downright beautiful Only, they do it very well indeed. Frontman Michael Champion has a versatile voice, sometimes adopting a soaring falsetto that rises above the rest of the music, and then at others letting his bandmates guide the song. An example of the latter is Here, My Blood Runs Clear, which has an air of a more energetic The Verve about it. She Said, meanwhile, is simply delightful.
They can also do atmospheric: Bright Blue Berlin Sky is an indication of where they could take their sound next, with gentle acoustic guitars and impressive harmonies leading to a restrained yet wonderfully effective chorus. As the song spirals towards its finale, a delicately-layered wall of sound is created, with piano, synths, guitar and brushed drums combining to produce something a lot more powerful than the sum of its parts. Echo of Love is a finely-honed and impressively-written EP that displays a new side to The Shutes. They’ve come on a lot since the release of Noah’s Ark last year, and it’s clear, moreso than ever before, that they mean business.
She Said:
Echo of Love:
