Single/Video Review: The Shore

When I first started listening to this, I felt there had been quite a change in the sound of No Broadcast, and I certainly wonder if this is a new direction for the band or a one-off experiment. It is hard to tell, as although there has been a change in the personnel, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Josh Braden is not averse to bringing in different people to work on different songs and here he has been joined by Thomas Isbister (drums, bass), Ryan Fisherman (lap steel) and Tom Harris (keyboards and string sonic texture). Somehow, we have here a mix of sounds which manages to combine Radiohead, U2 and Crowded House in a very pleasant manner indeed.

The basis of this song is multi-tracked picked acoustic guitar, with keyboards layered on the top, gradually building, with other instruments added as the song develops. The vocals are clear, with some nice reverb to provide depth, and a concentration on long-held notes. In many ways this is brave music, as there is no room at all for Josh to hide, no massive accompaniment to hide behind, this is about confidence and breath control.

The production is superb, with an arrangement which takes what is in many ways a quite simple song into something much larger than one might imagine. It is something which demands to be played on headphones so one gets the full value, as there are many touches which would otherwise be lost, and when it climaxes it then has a suitable ending so one does not feel cheated but instead has the urge to play it again.

It could be argued that this is an arty song, and that carries through to the video which is in black and white and features Josh on a beach, for the most part standing still and miming to the track. This is nice and fits in well with the music, but they possibly should not have stayed on Josh while he is singing all the long notes as it looks like he is yawning. He collects some driftwood to make some words, and while this is again low key and simplistic, the camerawork fits in with the music and the two combine well together. One wonders what the next album will be like as this is quite a move from Lie In Orbit which only came out earlier this year.