An inconsistent project

Boy, Amanda Shires does not want to return to the gentle folk of squeaky acoustics and fiddle that put her on the map. First, there was the gauzy indie pop, overblown southern rock, and post-punk that slipped into her last record, To the Sunset. Now she’s going for arch pop balladry and Memphis soul with Take it Like a Man, her most brooding and massive presentation to date. Sadly, its intriguing sounds are insufficiently supported by inconsistent writing and the stellar lyrics are let down by overwrought music that never steps back to effectively emphasize rawness.

Right from the opening notes, Take it Like a Man sets a dangerous and confrontational scene. Huge power chords over lumbering drums and unsteady piano herald in “Hawk to a Dove,” driven home by hellish fiddle. It’s followed by the title track, which similarly finds the fiddle and guitar battling over which can be the most haunting in the bridge. The album never gets quite as intense as these opening moments, but even the quieter, more open tracks like “Empty Cups and Everything Has Its Time” are packed to the brim with backing tones and horns or slathered with strings.

Despite a reputation as a provocative poet, Shires’ lyrical ability is not firing on all cylinders here even as the music gives her the perfect setting to cut loose. The allegedly scandalous of “Bad Behavior,” which includes having sex out of wedlock and goes no further, would only pop monocles in the ’20s. The opening “Hawk to a Dove” is trying to be Hole’s “Violet” in turning fragility into strength and flipping the script on a predatory hookup, which would have benefitted from a hook with more punch than “You can call it serious trouble” and overly specific details like “The spurs of hip bones and you pressing in” that prevent it from working as a metaphor.

When the writing does work, it possess a deft understatement that the music is ill-equipped to handle. The record is full of a lot of ugly relationship turmoil with fellow musician Jason Isbell. “Stupid Love” finds her knowingly chasing the initial spark that brought them together fully admitting it’s unlikely to work but praying for it to succeed. “Fault Lines” is the burnt out ending to tons of arguments where she throws up her arms and admits to those who ask she does not even know why they are arguing anymore. The most potent song is “Don’t Be Alarmed,” which succeeds at what “Hawk to a Dove” is trying to do by finding power even when broken emotionally. She demands her partner pay attention to her while she breaks down, challenges him to witness what this breakup is doing to her so he cannot pretend he was not aware of the emotional consequences of his actions.

There’s a beauty to the hazy harmonies and strings of “Fault Lines” and soulful horns of “Stupid Love,” yet they do not feel like the right fit for deft writing that’s exploring tiny, ugly emotions rather than huge ones. “Don’t Be Alarmed,” the one moment that might warrant a confrontational tone like the opening tracks, feels too soft. A lyric like “Stay right where you’re standing / Take it all in / At least be a witness / See it to the end” is worthy of Courtney Love’s classic snarl, yet it’s paired with album’s gentlest acoustics, piano and vocal performance. Rawer instrumentation or a tighter overall mix would put these songs over the top, and producer Lawrence Hamilton is not the person to call to get those results.

Once again, Shires puts forth a massively inconsistent project. When the music works, the lyrics do not. When the writing is on point, the music lets it down. There’s more validity to this direction than To the Sunset. More material in this vein from here is welcome if its components can get in step line with one another.