Sometimes, reaching the right feeling can take an artist time. It can take a well-crafted album to build to its climax. It can be an extended track that needs to arrange itself ritualistically for the ultimate payoff. Sometimes, from the first line, an artist has already reached you. This is the case with the Boardwalk by Grey Shore Avenue. This song makes no mistake in keeping things easily digestible. The rhythms and leads are as plain as they get. This leaves room for some truly expressive vocals that would make some of the blues’ founding fathers weep.
The Boardwalk is a pained call for mercy and any listener can find it in themselves to apply the fear of abandonment to their own lives. We’ve all had to deal with loss in some shape or form, and Grey Shore Avenue captures that anguish with such a no-nonsense approach. It’s hard to imagine even attempting something so grand without thoughts to even a hint of percussion. For the minimalist instrumentation and rejection of pop structure, this is a song that can’t be called lazy but also doesn’t have a pompous line in it. With artists constantly flexing their creative muscles on how to make sound in newer and stranger ways, it’s beautiful to be reminded what a beating human heart can express without the frills attached.
-Paul Weyer