Album by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
There’s a little bit of fuzz around the country on Revelations.
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers are working from a country and alt-country foundation, but there’s enough rock and indie music mixed in that it never feels like a straight country record. I hear pieces of Lucinda Williams, Wilco, the Old 97’s and Neil Young in there, along with some Byrds-style jangle and little psychedelic touches around the edges.
“Revelations” is one of my favorites on the album. It’s a wonderful combination of country songwriting and rock grit, and I really like the way the vocals sit over the music. The chorus is fantastic and incredibly catchy. There’s frustration all through the song, but the music is so good that it never feels weighed down by it. It’s just a great song.
“You Don’t Get to Tell Me” has an easy, laid-back country-rock groove, but there’s a punk attitude underneath it. I really like what River Shook does here. They take a message you’d expect to be belted out over some defiant anthem and turn it into something more like an invitation to sit back, relax and have a drink while they tell you to shut up.
More traditional country comes into play on “Motherfucker,” with a jaunty rhythm and some fiddle running through it. At times, River hits a few lines in a higher register, which gives the song a different feel from some of the others. There’s a bit of dark humor here as Shook calls out someone who used them when they were vulnerable. The song is angry, but it never dissolves into rage. It almost comes across as someone finding some payback by saying, you’re going to get yours eventually.
“Dogbane” has an almost old-fashioned bounce to it. There’s something about the rhythm that reminds me of classic country music, but the song itself doesn’t feel like a throwback. River’s singing is really interesting here. They stretch certain words and give the vocals a country inflection without leaning into a stereotypical twang. It’s a fun way to accompany a song about environmental dread and anxiety.
“Nightingale” moves away from the country and leans more into Southern rock and blues. I really like the way River sings this one. Their voice almost becomes another instrument, following some of those wailing, almost moaning sounds coming from the guitar. The song feels less like looking for someone to fix anything and more like it’s asking, Do you feel this too?
“Backsliders” might be the most fun song on the album. Musically, at least. Everything clicks for me here. It’s pitch perfect. And that gives us another contradiction: a really infectious song about self-destructive behavior, about being unable to avoid getting sucked back into the orbit of a relationship that is not exactly healthy. There’s something great about taking a situation like that and making the song almost tongue-in-cheek.
The most country song on the album might be “Stone Door.” There’s a lot of twang here, and River really leans into that side of their voice. The story revolves around a storm on a mountaintop and a memory tied to another person. There’s something beautiful and dangerous about the whole thing, and I like the way those two things exist together in the song.
“Jane Doe” is probably the most earnest song here. A lot of the twang disappears and the music settles into a steady alt-country sound. River sounds exhausted, almost emotionally drained, as they sing it. This one feels like a metaphor for walking away from someone and into the unknown. That dangerous place is preferable to staying inside the relationship and the pain. You know what you’re leaving behind, but you have no idea what’s waiting for you on the other side.
“Give You All My Love” is a real change of pace. There’s still a little bit of country in there, but this feels much more like indie pop, both in the melody and the vocals. It also has one of the catchiest choruses on the album. This is a much brighter song emotionally, too. There’s gratitude and a level of comfort in finding love that hasn’t existed on the record before this. After so many songs dealing with struggle, uncertainty and difficult relationships, there’s something really nice about hearing River simply enjoy having someone to love.
“Criminal” is almost the opposite. The country sound is back, but in a completely different way. This one feels almost gothic. It’s a country horror story, or a murder mystery taking place somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. But underneath that atmosphere, there’s someone trying to walk away from a person they’re still emotionally tied to. Getting away physically doesn’t necessarily mean you can just turn the feelings off.
There’s more going on with Revelations than I expected when I first put the album on. The country can be traditional and twangy, or it can move into rock and blues. There’s also a fuzzier kind of alternative country that leans into indie rock. The album can be jagged and gentle. It all fits together without making it feel like it’s trying to prove how many different things it can do.
I also really like the way the music and the emotions sometimes work against each other. A song can be about something painful, angry or unsettling and still sound like a hell of a good time. The music doesn’t have to tell me how I’m supposed to feel about the lyrics. Sometimes that contrast makes the song hit even harder.
Revelations ended up being a much more varied album than I expected, and there are quite a few songs here that I really enjoyed spending time with.
And I’m starting to think that River Shook might be one of the best American songwriters working today.
Explore more from Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
Official Site | Spotify | Bandcamp
Explore more from River Shook
Official Site | Spotify | Bandcamp