SHANE HINES & THE TRANCE
Zoë
Screaming Godess Records 2005
www.shanehines.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
The 11 track follow up to the singer’s 2004 release Sweet Soul Suicide finds Shane Hines incorporating blues and Americana influences into his already established melodic pop rock sound.

Genre
Rock / pop rock / singer-songwriter

The Good
I enjoyed a few of the songs here. They ranged from the up tempo opening number “Joy Said” and the slower “Let Go.” Shane Hines wrote all the material on the disc and besides providing the vocal work, he also provided electric & acoustic guitar work, and hey, even some of the keyboards. He’s an all around threat, and he does write some pretty decent lyrics. “Thoughts I Own” is the best song on the album. It has this really great acoustic guitar line in the song that really serves the vocal work well.

The Bad
I didn’t care for a lot of the material. I found it rather weak, and there were spots were I questioned the vocal delivery. Two songs: “On And On” and “A Little Light” are relatively decent songs ruined by atrocious choruses with vocals that are just too high.

The Verdict
It’s not a BAD album, but other than the three songs I mentioned above in the good, I just don’t think there is very much that is particularly noteworthy. I think Shane Hines can be a good lyricist, but there is definitely room for improvement. I found it to be a rather average album at best.

Did You Know?
Shane Hines lists The Beatles as his desert island band, and among his other influences are Albert, Freddie and BB King, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix. The band has shared performance stages with Tonic and Cake.

Rating: out of 5

-- Jay Roberts