A few months ago it seemed impossible to turn on the radio and not hear the incessant repetition of “say Geronimo, say Geronimo,” so I was not exactly excited to listen to the first album by the Australian band of siblings, Sheppard. Now that I’ve heard the album, I’m still not really sure what to make of it because there was so much variety throughout all of the songs.
After listening to the first few songs, I was not at all surprised by the light-hearted lyrics and the simplistic style that the album had. In “Let Me Down Easy” they probably say “let me down easy” at least thirty times, making it almost as annoying as “Geronimo”.
The positivity that radiates through many of their songs creates a happy mood to accompany the fun instrumentals in the background. This band loves to utilize the clapping in the background or the random falsettos and harmonies of people singing “la de da”. The fourth song, “These People”, put me in a good mood and I simply couldn’t help feeling hopeful. This song, like a few of their others, sends a message of self love and separating oneself from toxic people that are everywhere in the world.
There is a definite shift in the album once the female singer takes over with “A Grade Playa”. This song gives off a mean, cold vibe when she sings the lyrics “You’re the only reason why a rose ever grows a thorn”. “Smile”, which is also sung by Amy Sheppard, brings the album back to its cutesy, positive, love oriented theme. Towards the end of the song she mentions that she “can’t wait to get him under the sheets”, and this completely surprised me. This band doesn’t seem like the type to make explicit sexual references in their songs because of the innocence portrayed by their initial lyrics and the instruments in their songs.
Between “Smile” and “This Electric Feeling” George Sheppard sings “The Best Is Yet to Come”, which is just another feel-good song, with the cliché “It’s darkest right before the sun” was thrown in. Overall, this track didn’t stand out as anything different than the rest, but “This Electric Feeling” definitely did. Amy sang this song and brought in some lower voice tones and a new drum beat. The lyrics were also quite explicit in this song, alluding to her desire for some man the whole time. I was not a fan of this band before I heard this album and really didn’t know anything about them other than “Geronimo” but these lyrics just feel wrong coming from them. Whenever Amy sang a song it definitely stuck out as different, but I’m not entirely sure if this was a good different or a bad different.
The song that I really enjoyed was called “Find Someone”. It’s very upbeat and not as soft as their other songs. This is another song about finding someone to love that isn’t a negative life influence, and the chorus says that he’ll “find someone that really gives a funk about me”. “Lingering” followed and it made me feel pretty down. In this song George sings about his loneliness and desire to find “the one”.
The last two songs made absolutely no sense with the scope of this album. “Halfway to Hell” doesn’t fit in at all. It has a country vibe, her voice sounds like she’s trying much too hard to seem like a Broadway star, and it makes me feel like I’m going on a speed chase down Route 66. The chorus also makes zero sense with the song, and it just irritates me. “Flying Away” was essentially another “Geronimo”. It had a promising beginning, but the repetition of “Flying Away” made me want to fly away from this album.
Even though there were quite a few songs that got under my skin, all of which were sung by Amy Sheppard, I think this album is definitely worth a listen because this band has a bit of everything, so you’re bound to like something they sing.