Shannon Shaw has a voice as big as all outdoors, and apparently
Dan Auerbach decided she should make a record that's just as vast.
Shaw is the lead singer with
Shannon & the Clams, whose blend of girl group, garage rock, rockabilly, and other cool retro rock & roll sounds has made them cult favorites, and
Auerbach is the co-founder of
the Black Keys and an avowed
Clams fan who produced their 2018 album
Onion as well as 2021's
Year of the Spider. Both of those records found
Auerbach using his studio savvy to give the band a richer and more colorful sound, and with 2024's
The Moon Is in the Wrong Place, he's gone all in, with clean, well-detailed production, arrangements that aren't afraid to be grandiose, and plenty of space for
Shaw's vocals to get the spotlight they deserve. The opening track, "The Vow," is a Latin-tinged ballad whose romantic shuffle builds up to a colossal swell of horns, percussion, and massed vocals in its grand finale, and if most of the album is on a more modest scale, it serves as a statement of purpose that, at least for this record,
Auerbach and
the Clams have decided to go big or go home. There's a bittersweet irony in the grand spectacle of "The Vow," as
Shaw originally wrote it for her fiancé,
Gris Gris drummer
Joe Haener, who died in an auto accident just weeks before they were to be wed.
Shaw and her bandmates -- guitarist
Cody Blanchard, keyboard player
Will Sprott, and drummer
Nate Mahan -- wrote the bulk of
The Moon Is in the Wrong Place in the wake of his passing, and the tragedy informs several of the songs ("It's hard to share you with all the world/I wanted to wear white and be your girl,"
Shaw sings in "Oh So Close, Yet So Far," with just the slightest catch in her voice). There are fewer songs on
The Moon Is in the Wrong Place that will get the party started than on
Shannon & the Clams' previous albums (with the exception of the joyous "Bean Fields"), though if the tone is subdued, the end result is still very satisfying. The band and their guests play with passion and skill, the songs are evocative and thoughtful, and
Auerbach's confidence in
Shaw's voice is well founded -- she sounds soulful and strong even as she struggles with heartache and loss.
The Moon Is in the Wrong Place doesn't feel like an out-of-the-box banger like
the Clams' best LPs, but it aims for something different than their previous work, and on its own terms it's a deeply affecting success. ~ Mark Deming
