Amanda Shires
Album: Carrying Lightning
Label: Silver Knife
Tracks: 12
Website: amandashires.squarespace.com/

Amanda Shires third solo album 'Carrying Lightning' has straight away an all-round feel of a lazy summer afternoon. Even though it is below 0?C outside, from closing your eyes it is easy to imagine you're lying in a meadow with the sun warming your face.

Her songs capture the essence of all our differing fears in a way that means you can overcome them. We're all running from 'broken hearts, broken homes, the tired and the loneliness', and she also shows her own weaknesses through lyrics like 'I have your number, but no courage'. The song 'Ghostbird' is a metaphor showing a wonderful transition, from her initial shock at discovering a strange bird in her home and exclaiming 'dear you don't belong here at all', to the later leaving 'every door open, every window, every shade', and embracing the things that initially were confusing.

The mellow rhythm of her songs, especially 'Kudzu' and 'Love Be A Bird' create an enchanting dreamlike feel that has you ready to slip away from reality into the haze of her violin. From song to song she references being 'hardly awake' and 'in a daydream' and the soothing melodies lead to you unconsciously swaying from side to side and singing along, feeling the peace of sleepy mornings.

The primary instruments being violin, guitar and drums mixed with her Texan accent provides a happy-go-lucky country attitude that makes your inner optimist shine out and you cannot help but smile. The instrumental 'Swimmer… Dreams Don't Keep' carries on the images of simple pleasures, walking through fields of corn and sitting with friends round a fire. The only songs that don't have the usual happy feeling are 'When You Need A Train It Never Comes' and 'Shake The Walls', but these still contains a determination that ensures you know she will be back to her joyful self soon. If ever feeling weighed down from the bleak greyness of winter just put on 'Carrying Lightning' and let her recapture the memory of the carefree summer in this cool, serene album.

Leila Dara