Melody has almost always taken a backseat to image in rock and roll and that's exactly what the Shore is: not as much a band as an image.
The band's self-titled debut has 10 songs, each one blending into the next, essentially creating one long, slow-motion make-out scene. The recipe is a combination of heavy guitars and sparse keyboards with a dash of long-held notes here and there. The result is a void where the melody should be.
The Shore apparently wants people to believe that they are psychedelic. They tie-dyed the cover of their album to make it look "far-out" and have modest references to drug use in their lyrics. The closest they come to that musically is "Different Ways," in which they incorporate Beach Boy-like backing vocals. On the last track, "Coming Down," they even use a glockenspiel, which is problematic because the Shore doesn't understand the concept of knowing how to play an instrument before using it.
Maverick Records must believe that the Verve would have done better in today's Coldplay-loving market than they did 10 years ago. The Shore set out to sell their record by making music exactly like the Verve. The cover of their album resembles the cover for the band's "Urban Hymns." Vocalist Ben Ashley looks and sounds like Richard Ashcroft. For Pete's sake, their surnames are almost identical.
