Review: New Album "Sinner Swing" by The Shirts and Shoes
The Shirts and Shoes are a four-piece rock band based in Lowell, MA. Their sound captures the contagious energy of classic rock and modern rock, luring the listener in with a diversified range of style composition. The band was formed in 2015 when Eric Gonnam, drums, and Tyler Charron, vocals/ rhythm guitar, who had been jamming since meeting in middle school invited Emiliano Calvo, lead guitar, and Alec Gervais, bass, to jam after meeting in college their freshman year.
Since then the four have been steadily writing, recording, and playing out as much as possible, having self-produced and released two projects between then and now. The Shirts and Shoes have just finished working on their first studio album Sinner Swing.
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The Shirts and Shoes return with their sophomore, high-energy rock album Sinner Swing. Featuring heavier rhythms and vocals than their previous album Bananas, this album displays the band’s growth as a whole. With breaks, introductions, and changes throughout the album, the band proves the thoughtfulness and care they took in creating an album that feels like it's ready to be played in a stadium.
The first track off of the album “Welcome” is the perfect introduction to this high-energy album. Starting with a powerful voice yelling “Children!”, the narrator describes our times as the apocalypse. With the instruments coming in and adding an atmosphere of doom, the track ends with maniacal laughter, which transitions into the second track without pause.
The second track, “MRSA”, starts off with rising hits from all the instruments. As the instruments hit their peak, they settle into the groove with a short guitar solo. As the unique vocals of their lead singer come in, it becomes blatantly apparent that this project is an evolution of this band from the softer songs in Bananas to the heavier sounds that the singles “Wolf” and “More” had hinted at.
With guitar and bass parts doubling the vocals in the chorus, the soulful vocals sell the message that is so closely related to the introduction. As we reach the turning point in the track with the lead singer screaming “the world,” the band slows into a big instrumental break that brings us straight into the final chorus and out to the next song.
The third track, “Wolf”, was the first track released leading to this album. This track is short but focused, pulling us in with the main riff; we get a short section of calm energy until it all explodes again into the heavier side of the group. Playing with these two different energies, we arrive at a solo where the singer screams “Take me away” and leads us out with a quieter rendition of the groove.
The fourth song, “Something to Chase”, beings fast, and the pace remains when the vocals enter with lyrics speaking on the issues with being alone. About halfway through the track, the tempo drops, eventually leading to the outro. With the singer singing “give me something to chase,” we enter a high-energy solo in this new tempo that brings us straight to the end of the track.
The fifth track, “More”, was the second single released in preparation for the release of this project. We get new energy from this track that we haven’t heard yet in this project, with the vocals taking on a rhythmic staccato pattern for the verse. After this section, we find ourselves in the chorus that leads up to the climactic point where the singer yells, “I don’t want no one else.” The second verse, which takes on a slower, sliding melody, brings us back to the chorus. After the hook, we enter a hard instrumental section that reclaims the verse groove and ends abruptly.
The sixth track, “Toothache”, is a flex for their lead guitarist with their quick minor riff. The vocals fit perfectly around this riff with a slow melody. The chorus heavily contrasts the verse with slower rhythms that the drums and guitar take on. After the second verse and chorus, we find a surprising soft section that takes on some elements of a soulful ballad. In contrast to the rest of the track, it almost feels as if the singer is emotionally exhausted, but he comes back in strong with the final chorus, which ends with heavy screaming. After it seems the track is over, the band surprises us with a fast-paced outro that feels like a remix of the ideas from earlier in the song that abruptly ends the track.
The second to last song on the project “Seed” features new energy taking on the feel of a blues ballad for the first half of the song. The beginning of the track features a softer spoken section from the same narrator as before. Throughout this ballad section, the singer almost sounds like he’s crying, further displaying the expressiveness of his vocals. We abruptly exit this lower energy portion of the song, returning to the hard rock elements that this album holds close. Coming out of this section, riding on the guitar solo, the band gracefully places us back into the bluesy feel from before and gives us a softer solo right up to the end of the track.
With the eighth track, “Junk”, we have reached the finale of the album. The beginning features more catchy guitar riffs with a minute-long intro. The instrumentation then drops back as the vocals enter for the verse. The band introduces us to a slower groove in the chorus, with a big break as the vocals yell “Woah”. After the second verse and chorus, we find ourselves amid a guitar breakdown. This section slowly begins to rise in energy, with a four on the floor supporting the riff. As it continues rising, we get another solo from their virtuosic guitarist. With this section lasting nearly 2 minutes, the build-up from beginning to end is slow, intentional, and satisfying, and the solo continues to intensify. Immediately after the quick climax of the solo, everything besides the rhythm guitar drops out, giving us the final iterations of the riff before smoothly wrapping up the album.
Sinner Swing has proven to be an excellent addition to the MA-based rock band’s catalog. The high-energy project displays an ever-developing thoughtfulness in both arrangement and songwriting from The Shirts and Shoes. With the unique vocals from the lead singer and the virtuosic playing from the band, particularly the lead guitarist, this album has everything that we could ask of it.
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