Ohio’s Shannon Clark & The Sugar combine a touch of soul, indie and Americana into their unique musical mix on their debut full-length, Marks On The Wall. That album is out on May 14, 2021 and today we’re premiering the band’s newest single “Wait Till Spring.”
The band started out with a very different sound as an act called Shannon and Brittany Clark – pop punk – and even landed a slot on the Warped Tour dates in 2006 and 2007 on the Ernie Ball Stage. Tragically, their youngest daughter died shortly after that period, and the duo understandably wasn’t motivated to tour anymore.
This time period didn’t see the Clarks quit making music though. Shannon and Brittany kept creating and taught their oldest daughter Navie how to sing harmonies. For the last three years the trio has performed under the moniker Shannon Clark & The Sugar, combining a range of Americana influences including Amos Lee, John Prine and Dolly Parton.
Previous single “Let it Ride” featured lyrics that dealt in stark terms with the death of their youngest daughter. Their next single “Wait Till Spring” is also about loss, but on this track the Clarks are singing about finding yourself within the struggles of losing someone and coping with the fact that they won’t be back. The slower song features beautifully-arranged harmonies and a pulsating organ and piano lead.
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/949494088
“We all wait for different reasons: we wait for seasons, we wait for lovers, we wait for death,” said Shannon Clark. “‘Wait till Spring’ is a song about finding yourself and waiting for someone that’s not coming and coping with that. I wrote this for my grandfather as he was lost when his wife of 65 years passed on.”
Grammy-winning producer Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, U2, Neil Young) worked with the Clarks on their new album, pushing them to follow the recording rule of three takes and we’re done. This gave the album an intimate, honest and admittedly imperfect sound, which was the intention all along. “If you go to a live performance you’re going to hear chairs squeak or something off. [The record has] that live feeling,” said Brittany Clark.
Leave a Comment