Breaking all the rules to Sheppard new vibes!

If you haven’t heard of Sheppard before, have you been living under a rock?

They’re an indie/pop band based out of Brisbane. They’re an Aussie sibling band with front man George alongside his 2 sisters Amy (blue hair) and Emma (pink string bass player). They have created some big hits such as ‘Let Me Down Easy’, ‘Geronimo’, ‘Coming Home’ and most recently ‘Symphony’.

Sheppard are known for their upbeat jump around sound, if you were to listen to Geronimo, Coming Home and Symphony you’ll see what I mean. I personally love this style of theirs but with their recent music adventure, I’ve heard a different side to them and really dig it!

Sheppard have decided to “break the rules” in 2020 by releasing one song each month for the whole of 2020. Which is a big task if you ask me, because they are releasing a music video for each song as well!

In January they released ‘Phoenix’. Definitely a deeply powerful and meaningful song. They wrote this song about the bushfires that were ravaging our country at the start of the year, “we feel a confusing mixture of guilt, anger, helplessness and heartache. Aside from making our financial donations, we wanted to help in the only way we know how – by channeling our emotions into music.” wrote George on their website in regards to this song. I think it’s a great anthem to get behind, “We’ll rise up through the ashes, like a Phoenix”.

The song for February, ‘Don’t Believe In love’ is a little more upbeat than the previous month. Although the meaning behind the song isn’t upbeat, it has a poppy vibe and staccato notes, it’s a groovy song to get behind, very melancholy. We’ve all been in a spot before where we have been hurt pretty bad by love and want to just block off the world. This song is about exactly that. George uses a soft voice during the verses and then head voice in the pre-chorus, coming into the chorus we have his chest voice and  Amy and Emma backing/harmonising bringing it all together and giving us that classic Sheppard sound.

March, smooth and slow – not like Sheppard at all! ‘Somebody Like You’ focuses more on soft harmonies. They wrote this song first for this year-long project. It’s about a relationship George had in his early 20’s, he thought she was the love of his life. After it ended George spent the next year in relationships thinking he was moving on, but in reality, he was just trying to find someone exactly like her. George has obviously moved on and is very happy with the gorgeous Kathleen Seagar since 2013.

April, I really like this one. This song was written by George when he was overseas facetiming Kathleen and she was having a really bad day at work and was crying. He said it didn’t feel right trying to reassure her through the phone because there was simply nothing he could say that would comfort her. So the next day he went into a songwriting session specifically to write a song for Kathleen that she could use as a “pick me up”, and out came the song “Come Back”.

May – Mother’s Day month! “Thank You” was written by the sibling trio in thanks to their Mum and every Mum on Mother’s Day. If you’ve got a strong bond with your Mum you’ll definitely connect to this song. It gives off good vibes and it’s a real easy listening song, the harmonies are the type that gives you goosebumps too. I personally would like to thank Sheppard’s Mum, as without her we wouldn’t have Sheppard to listen to today!

The well-known Sheppard sound is back for June, and by Sheppard sound I mean hand claps, lots of vocal layers and a catchy repetitive phrase! Explained by George on their website “Symphony is probably the most unashamedly happy love song we’ve ever written. There’s not a single minor chord in this song, just a massive, uplifting declaration of love”. This is a song I can see hanging around for quite some time and being one of those songs that’s in the “get up and dance favs” playlist (it’s currently in mine lol).

“Lazy Love” is Sheppard’s latest release of their once a month single release. George has stated on their website that this song was written about a friend of theirs who was in a very toxic relationship. His girlfriend would insult him in front of friends and keep him worried by going out at night unplanned and unexplained. Aside from the not so great story behind the song, the song itself is actually really cool. “I love how the production of this song matches the meaning, it feels so lazy and groovy, which is a nice change for us” – George Sheppard.

So as we eagerly wait for the release of their August single “Catalina”, I hope this rundown of their current 2020 singles keeps your Sheppard fix full. But it leaves us with unanswered questions, will they combine all these singles and release them as an album? What will it be called? Will there be unheard songs on it? Only Sheppard knows…

PS: Sheppard, if you’re reading this, you guys are awesome and I’m a big fan!

Article By: Dani Sanderson