Cliché Central

Sherwood’s newly released Qu continues to impress beyond the first listen.

Building off the success of A Different Light, Sherwood breaks new ground in this album, though this new ground will sound familiar to the Sherwood faithful. This album sounds like a continuation of A Different Light, though I am definitely not saying that is a bad thing.

The album starts out strong with “Shelter,” a 53-second opener song that, frankly, they would have extended into a full length song. The a capella harmonies are strong and bright-sounding.

From there, it drifts into “Maybe This Time,” the first single from Qu. It is well-deserving of bearing the single title, with its booming, catchy chorus. This definitely deserves to be a single, but I believe another song, “Make It Through” deserves to be a single more.

“Make It Through” had me at ten seconds. It is easily the most catchy song on the entire album and will have you humming its feel-good beat all day long. It sounds like summer in a bottle, and I would go so far as to call it the best overall track on the album. You can find a streaming MP3 of “Make It Through” at the end of this post.

“You Are” is a nice track on its own, with the catchy chorus, but to me, it sounds a little too much like an average rock song for me to play all the time. I would skip to “Ground Beneath My Feet.”

“Ground Beneath My Feet” is a close second for my favorite track on the album. I love the piano introduction and the heartfelt lyrics. The chorus even has an AABCBC rhyme scheme. When the full band comes in, the harmonies are amazing. Amazing. Highly recommended.

“What Are You Waiting For?” has a nice hard-hitting chorus, but it’s just not as catchy as some of the other tunes on this album.

“Not Gonna Love” put a lot of effort into being upbeat and bright, and it succeeds. I enjoy the steel drums in the background the most in this song.

At first I was not a huge fan of “Worn,” but the more I listened to it, the more I appreciated it. Molly Jenson, another SoCal indie singer, make a guest appearance and contributes nicely with her vocals, adding another dimension to this song that makes it especially powerful, with lyrics such as, “You always come home to those empty rooms and wonder what’s left to lose, folding sheets ‘cause you can never stop.”

“Free” has some nice harmonies, especially around the 3 minute mark. I don’t really know why but this song sort of reminds me of the Beatles.

The five-minute closer “No Better” is a song about the effects of divorce. It’s actually really sad, and I almost teared up listening to it (I didn’t actually though fyi). It presents divorce through the perspective of a child, and it is sort of a dialogue between him and his mother. “I could have seen it coming, I guess, him sleeping out on the couch, you in your half of the bed…” She doesn’t want her son to ever have to go through what she’s going through, but she realizes it has to happen. Very poignant and touching.

iTunes also offers the exclusive bonus track “I’m Letting You Go,” a song that sounds reminiscent of Sherwood’s previous albums. It’s actually a pretty decent track, and to appease rock enthusiasts, it’s got plenty of cowbell. The chordage on the chorus is the exact same as “Alive” on A Different Light. I think they should have actually included this song on the main release, though not at the end, because it doesn’t flow well with “No Better.”

Qu is a summer album, no doubt about that. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still EXTREMELY enjoyable to listen to in the dead of winter. It gives you a warm feeling inside and makes you remember the long July days (you wish you had) spent by the beach.

If you need a good smile or a cheering up, then you have nowhere further to look than Qu.

STAR RATING: 4.5/5

MUST-LISTENS

Maybe This Time

Make It Through

Ground Beneath My Feet

No Better

IF YOU LIKE THIS, THEN YOU WOULD ALSO LIKE:

“This is an Outrage!” by Capital Lights

“Fear and Love” by We Shot the Moon

“A Silver Lining” by We Shot the Moon

“Vampire Weekend” by Vampire Weekend