If the splendid Run Rabbit had a wonderful blues vibe beating away at its heart, this time out Cary Shields opts for a more funky and fun folk vibe to drive the new song. In The Morning is built of gentle spirals of sound, picked strings…either a banjo or a guitar doing a banjo impression, it’s hard to tell, but so well is it executed, spacious beats and a pulsing bass line that builds a wonderfully strutting groove.
And then he applies the master stroke that seems to be his signature move, the slow-burning build. He adds layers of tone and texture and sonic weight caused by further applications of his chosen instruments but does so with such deftness that you never notice the building dynamic until you find yourself surrounded and cocooned by it.
It’s a neat trick and one that marks Shields out as a master arranger, not to mention a great songwriter.
