Listen Up: Amanda Shires – Devastate

Remember The Amanda Shires song Bulletproof I featured on Twang Nation podcast #12? The one that was released before her run at SXSW that I couldn’t find any more details on? Well now the cat is out of the proverbial bag.

The cut is from Shires upcoming fourth solo release “Down Fell The Doves,” produced by Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes, REM) and recorded at his Chase Park Transduction studio in Athens, GA. An accompanying press release includes a publicity pic (left) that makes a good case for Shires being included as
Miss December in any Women of Americana calendar that might be in the works. The release also describes the album as “…11 original songs (that) feature Amanda’s sharpest writing to date, brought to life by a voice that melts, a fiddle that sears, and guitars – played for the most part by her husband, Jason Isbell – that scrape and howl.” I’m in!

Though there’s a spaghetti western sensibility running through it “Devastate” is, at heart, gritty mid-tempo rocker featuring Shires’ signature vibrato (in chorus!) as Isbell engages his guitar’s own vibrato bar as he dives in and out of the song. Shires matched him in parts with her own distorted fiddle mastery.

Shire’s says that ““Devastate” comes from a place of insecurity” and the lyrics reflect that. They a picture of ambiguous menace that can’t be pinpointed. “Devastate” shows a continuation of the lyrical and musical maturity Shires’ exhibited in her last release, 2011’s “Carrying Lightning.” I can’t wait to hear the rest!

“Down Fell the Doves” is out Aug. 6 on Lightning Rod Records.

‘Down Fell The Doves’ tracklist:
1. Look Like A Bird
2. Devastate
3. Bulletproof
4. Box Cutters
5. Deep Dark Below
6. Wasted And Rollin’
7. If I
8. Stay
9. Drop And Lift
10. A Song For Leonard Cohen
11. The Garden Song

www.amandashiresmusic.com