The Shore: The Shore : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

No one would be likely to fault you for mistaking the meandering melodies in "Hard Road," the opening song and first single off the Shore's self-titled debut, for the Verve's big comeback. Vocalist Ben Ashley channels Richard Ashcroft's vibrato so well, you'd think him possessed if you didn't already know that Ashcroft's still kicking. But by the time the third song, "Take What's Mine," rolls in, it becomes clear that this is more than Brit-rock karaoke by an American band. The Shore add their own dimensions by seamlessly blending in the kind of dreamy multi-tonal harmonies long ago mastered by groups from their native left coast, such as the Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas. The resulting songs are sunnier than their U.K. idols' but darker than their West Coast forefathers', making it an all around nostalgic album of laid-back, pleasurable tunes.