Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
January 15, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Shaun Kirk: Giving

Shaun Kirk Giving EPShaun Kirk

Giving

shaunkirk.com/Bandcamp

Melbourne “blues” singer and guitarist Shaun Kirk has an ugly Playstation tone to his guitar across five-track EP, Giving. More worrying, he’s in New Zealand next week for a bunch of shows. Give him a chance perhaps, but his use of the word blues as a descriptor is tantamount to musical blackface.

It’s nice that he’s, erm, giving 10% of the profits from his latest EP to Orphfund but I’m not sure this is, in the end, going to raise much in the way of money, more a case of raising awareness: specifically awareness that Shaun Kirk isn’t anything close to a) the blues or b) good.

It’s water-colour treatments and hackneyed phrasing, its trite lyrics and songs that are almost profoundly uninteresting. So the intention is there – and perhaps he’s a charming performer, some charisma or something, but I shouldn’t think checking out his latest EP will put anyone in the mood to see his show/s. And the closing 10-minute Find Me A Lady is excruciating; he sounds like he’s hijacked what was, at some stage, a decent enough BBQ and his relentless party-guitar strumming is forcing a major buzzkill on the tens of people gathered, albeit reluctantly.

Posted in Blog, Reviews and tagged with Album Review, EP, GIving, Orphfund, Shaun Kirk. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Poem: The Cowboy Way
Rosanne Cash: The River & The Thread »

Popular

  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • Time Casts Its Spell: When Silver Springs Became The Secret Weapon It Had Always Threatened To Be
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Prince: Tokyo Dome 1990
  • Everything Must Go: My Last Time At The Record Fair
  • Bono’s Book
  • On: Neil Young’s Decade
  • Where Have All The Kiwi Soundtracks Gone?

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press