Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Amy Shark, Sony Music/Wonderlick 2017.
Gold Coast singer/songwriter Amy Shark burst onto the scene when her song, Adore, achieved the runner-up position in this year’s Triple J Hottest 100.
The song had already gained high rotation plays on the national country charts prior to achieving its Hottest 100 success and has gone on to become an anthem for the young and young at heart.
It’s had over twelve million streams, reached number three on the ARIA singles chart and gone platinum in the process.
It seems that Amy has arrived.
Adore has found a home on Amy’s six-track extended EP, Night Thinker.
Night Thinker is a literal title.
Amy tends to do most of her writing at night. She’s done so from her teenage years.
The EP opens with Drive You Mad, a song she says “has been around for a while.”
It’s a very personal song because in it Amy takes a self-critical look at herself. “I realized I’m not the easiest person to live with.”
Adore is the second track on the disc and it has hit written all over it.
It’s really a song about obsession and it has a beautiful and hauntingly singable melody.
Weekends is the latest single and it’s sure to do well in the charts. It sort of picks up where Adore ended. A sort of Adore part 2.
Worst Girl features the rapper All Day.
I know nothing about him but I can say that the mix of Amy’s intense but beautiful vocals and All Day’s rap works well.
I do like Amy’s lyrics.
They are often intensely personal but they also deal with themes that are universal.
I like the way she shines a harsh and often critical light upon the subject.
In the track, Blood Brothers, she explores the addictiveness of power. If you possess it, it’s hard not to use it.
This EP heralds the arrival of a new talent on the Australian music scene.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from Amy Shark.
