We are always excited to see Chucky Trading Co back at the top of our reviews pile. There’s something about Chucky Trading Co’s music that makes us smile and we’re always thrilled to hear their latest offering. Always different, but always instantly recognisable – the mark of a true artist. Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio, we’re listening today to the new single, Shadows, and we think you should too!
Shadows is a wonderful 6/8 folky feeling country ballad. It has a real storytelling feel to it, especially enhanced by the vocals of CS Taber. Shadows tells the story of a down-on-his-luck Nashville star. A tale of woe and despair. A story of someone who made it big, but is now seriously down on his luck.
Shadows starts with gentle strummed guitar that has been well recorded with some subtle bass underneath and a calm and pleasant acoustic guitar solo.
When the vocals come in, we are reminded just why we love Chucky Trading co. Taber’s voice is smooth, versatile and, as we’ve said before, has just a hint of musical theatre to it. The dynamism in the vocals (the line “there are no more shadows” as an example) is absolutely joyful. We could almost feel ourselves sat in the audience of Phantom of the Opera! Taber, however, uses this style of vocals to tell stories and sit firmly in the country rock genre which makes him just so appealing. We love a good crossover style and Taber does it to perfection.
The incidental electric guitar between vocal lines sits well with some great choices of notes and the harmony vocals that come in during the choruses are spot on and make Taber’s voice even more appealing.
The middle 8 leads into a gorgeous Bruce Hornsby style piano solo which felt just right and added so much more depth to the track. The occasional half bar in 3/4 rather than 6/8 adds some class and interest. This is not your typical country song!
Another well produced song from the team of CS Taber and producer Everett Young. For our own ears, we’d suggest a little boost around 100Hz to add some warmth in the low end. A tiny notch out around 250Hz to counteract just a little muddiness in the solo acoustic guitar. A small but wide cut around 400-500Hz to alleviate just a touch of boxiness in the overall track and we’d suggest maybe considering a tiny boost of the top 3 octaves for a little more brightness. Overall, however, this is superb work; each instrument is given plenty of space to shine in its own frequency range and there’s some wonderful stereo in the whole track.
Chucky Trading Co have produced yet another fantastic track that shows a level of versatility in musicianship and writing style that is second to none. We’ll be following their career closely and cheering from the sidelines all the way.