Devil's Gate Music
Related Articles
“I didn’t set out to make a divorce record. When I made ‘Take It Like a Man’, I was still fighting for something, writing from inside the hurricane, holding my ground, trying to keep love from slipping away. ‘Nobody’s Girl’ is what came after the wreckage, the silence, the rebuilding. It’s about standing in the aftermath of a life you thought would last forever and realizing no one is coming to save you.” – Amanda Shires
Heartache, divorce, and all the shit that comes with it are something that most people will have to deal with at some point. Being part of what has often been perceived as Americana’s version of Johnny and June meant that Grammy-award-winning singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Shires had to deal with it in the public eye.
With her divorce from fellow Grammy-winner Jason Isbell confirmed in 2023, Shires has returned in the only way possible – by making music, and in doing so, has created her strongest, most personal album to date.
‘The Details’ is the rawest of the 12 tracks found within. In someone else’s hands, perhaps with just a voice and an acoustic guitar, it could miss the mark. But here, played out over a simple (but oh so effective) drumbeat, soft piano and synths, and Shires’ mournful fiddle, it is a few minutes to stop the listener in their tracks. The delicious trademark vocal quiver from Shires is present, and with lyrics such as “You erase the details and I’m history/No matter how clear I keep the memories/You rewrite them so you could sleep” and “He scared me then, he still scares me now/Never will hear me out/The thing is he justifies it, using me and cashing in on our marriage” it is nothing short of staggering.
‘The Details’ also highlights the fact that ‘Nobody’s Girl’ is best enjoyed from start to finish in one sitting. Dip into the album halfway through, and yeah, you’ll marvel at moments such as ‘Lose It For A While’, ‘Piece Of Mind’, and ‘Streetlights and Stars’, but without starting at the beginning, and the fragility of the utterly beguiling ‘A Way It Goes’, followed by ‘Maybe I’ and ‘The Details’, then you run the risk of not fully appreciating the strength that it took for Shires to get to a track like ‘Lose It For A While’ or ‘Piece Of Mind’.
The arrival of ‘Lose It For A While’ mid-album heralds in more of an experimental sound from Shires. The first few minutes are organic, with just Shires’ incredible vocals and a gentle, picking acoustic guitar tone. Midway through, Shires pulls the rug out from under the listener’s feet as the song goes down the rabbit hole with atmospheric synths, Floydian guitar touches, and feral screams of “I don’t love you anymore” from Shires. Damn, who the hell saw that coming! Still reeling from the sudden outburst of power, ‘Piece Of Mind’ lands with a killer Thin Lizzy-esque guitar melody intro on a stunning, commercial, and uptempo moment that signifies Shires’ realising that “…it had really ended”. The lyric “If you think I could ever hate you, you’re wrong/But that was a real fucked up way to leave/Bout buckled when I heard and saw—You on the ring cam whistling” particularly hits home.
How does Amanda Shires follow these two leftfield moments? With the sweeping, waltz-like string arrangements of ‘Streetlights and Stars’, and the Billy Joel name-dropping ‘Lately’, that’s how. The former, what you might class as a traditional Country offering, while the latter is very much in that late 70s, early 80s singer-songwriter remit. Keeping with the eclectic nature of the album, ‘Friend Zone’ is a gorgeous, piano and string-laden, cinematic, torch song that casually drops in references to movies ‘Rambo’ and ‘Tombstone’…I’m Your Huckleberry.
At times, ‘Nobody’s Girl’ is a raw listen. Heartache albums always are; that’s why they are called heartache albums. Maybe Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ is the exception to the rule, but dig deeper beneath the vocal harmonies and the melodies, and there are some not-so-subtle barbs about disintegrating relationships there. But as Shires pointed out above, ‘Nobody’s Girl’ is about the aftermath, and ultimately, the rebuild. The end result is something truly special.
Purchase ‘Nobody’s Girl’ here.
More information here.
Review – Dave
Photo credits – Brett Warren
