You may think love songs are a dime-a-dozen. If you’re like me, you’ve heard SCORES of them.
O’Shea proves you wrong, however. The deciding factor separating their stabs in the love song tradition from rote imitators is their sincerity. They draw from their personal story with the new single “Everything Means Nothing” as Mark’s marriage proposal to wife and musical partner Jay O’Shea supplied the spark for the cut’s birth. As such, it has a resonance that other songs of its ilk rarely have. Their pronounced musical acumen is the crowning touch that elevates the single as well as their incandescent voices juxtaposed against one another.
Never underestimate the effect that a good video can have on elevating a song even higher. The O’Shea’s video for “Everything Means Nothing” puts the song’s money where its mouth is featuring personal footage from vacation, performances, personal challenges, unguarded private moments, and snippets from before and after gigs. It’s edited in the style of a music video, but the content sets it far apart from the standard clip. I feel like I’m invited to look in on their lives with this footage and the song caps off the experience.
It’s a song that ends up being more than the sum of its individual parts. An initial listen to the track may make it seem like it’s a spartan, maybe even underdeveloped, performance. It’s an illusion. O’Shea knows exactly what they’re reaching for with this performance and what it will take for them to get there. The drumming is a keystone part of the arrangement. It provides the necessary ballast for an otherwise quicksilver example of musical magic.
Their vocals play off the percussion with expert skill. Both Mark and Jay are gifted vocalists, particularly the former, but Mark’s voice supplies an excellent counterpoint every note of the way. Building this song via alternating lines and coming together for the chorus is a classic design, but they make it sound fresh for listeners.
The lyrics are dazzling as well. There’s an exuberant flood of detail that comes with their writing, but it never overwhelms you. Instead, it impresses on you just how meaningful their lives together are and how they’ve appreciated every turn in the road. It’s a moving depiction of a marriage in action rather than described in trite cliches and woeful generalities.
It’s these sort of distinctions that have separated O’Shea from their lesser contemporaries from the outset and continues to distinguish them. They take their musical art seriously and are well aware of the positive influence their music can have. It’s also deeply personal to them. “Everything Means Nothing” is a single that’s far above the usual cookie-cutter fare we hear from mainstream Nashville and there are no signs that O’Shea will be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, they may just be beginning to find their stride.
That’s an impressive thing to consider. I’ll want to keep listening and you should too. This is music that means something and inspires the heart.
Chadwick Easton