A new album from Shane Larmand gives off a very unique breed of honesty with lyrics that can be descriptive and riddled with character all done through this cross of singer-songwriter and Americana-style songwriting but a lot of these songs tell stories and this is most certainly one of those albums where you should be listening to the full record from beginning to end because if you only listen to one or two tracks, you will not get the full spectrum of what the album actually has to offer.
The National Ramble album comes through with a certain level of intensity some of the time and the songs to me, have a bit of a cinematic backbone which gives the album a vast undertone at times and the way that Shane composes the music lets a lot of these songs feel alive and breathing in a way.
For the most part, this is acoustic guitar-based but there are a lot of songs that grow into a more lush and full-bodied approach with other band members and collaborations throughout the records course.
One of the things I adore about this release is that he does have the ability to change characters here and there along with the way that he sings tracks depending on if they have a more full-bodied and fuller band feel, if they lean more towards the country or Americana style, or if they are a classic singer-songwriter approach.
No matter what you're getting a lot of honesty and a vocal performance that you can tell is genuine so in a way, you know a lot of these songs come from real places which makes the whole record incredibly authentic.
To a certain extent it feels like some of these songs interconnect to the point where this is almost like a concept album and if it's not, then at the very least these songs are almost like chapters in Shane's life and with a bunch of these songs he is giving pieces of himself.
But you can also tell that they have heart and a lot of personality which may be the most important part of it all.
One of the things that reaches out and grabs you about this record is the energy level throughout it because some of the songs almost feel like they were just recorded live on the floor, and you feel like you're watching a performance right in front of your face and that kind of energy is an amazing thing to experience when captured on a record like this.
This whole album was a great escape and again, if you listen to the record in full, the way it was meant to be listened to, then you get pulled away from your surroundings and put into these other places.
This is an aspect that I've missed in music for quite some time so to come across it now with such a lush and beautiful approach is completely refreshing.
This record is for people who love Americana, country, and especially singer-songwriter but all with a certain level of realness, charisma, heart, and authenticity.
A very wonderfully woven record from Shane Larmand, be sure and listen to this as soon as you can and in my opinion, you should do it with headphones on so you can really experience everything that's happening throughout these songs and soak in the stories and detail in the lyrics.
Remember where you heard it first.
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