th’sheridans – A Quiet Year (Reckless Yes)

th’sheridans – A Quiet Year (Reckless Yes)

With a career-spanning compilation out next week London DIY stalwarts th’sheridans release remastered single A Quiet Year on independent label Reckless Yes. 

th'sheridansArtist: th’sheridans
Track: A Quiet Year
Label: Reckless Yes
Released: 3 September 2021
Find it: Bandcamp | Spotify

Perhaps it is the recent times of going through isolation together, or perhaps it has always been this way. This collection of missed opportunities and alternative realities we didn’t end up living through, the peace and torment of things left unsaid, the bittersweetness of time passing and what could have been becoming what will never be.

It’s this story that th’sheridans tell on latest single A Quiet Year. Clean acoustic guitar races over the echo-held vocals, as the story is told, breath drawn with each repeat of a chorus which nudges the tale forward, the shorter versus revealing the actions and the inner worlds. Structurally it’s a wonderful piece of narrative which draws you in, and along, and will resonate with anyone who has wondered ‘what if…’ about someone or something.

‘And all those times in the last six months / We passed without a goddamn word / Seem foolish now, we laugh anyhow.. / We each have stories, need to be heard’

Originally released in 2013 as part of Read Already the band say of the track, “Probably at the peak of our small town powers here, this one’s about having to live with the things left unsaid. For us, it’s definitely in the mode of Neko Case’s linear storytelling.”

In the acoustic guitar and long narrative there is more than a touch of antifolk in the sound and approach, showing another facet to this band. It builds on the janglepop shown, albeit in different lights, on recent reissues Awesome Summers & Kate and I Don’t Wanna Be Dismembered. The remastering work by Livio Beroggi lifts these tracks, polishes just enough of the edges off for a polished piece that retains the rawness of the DIY recordings, takes nothing from the authenticity at the very beating heart of this band. 

For one with such a long stretch and deep catalogue behind them, it seems unfortunate they aren’t known by more people outside of the scenes in which they directly operate. With these reissues, and the compilation, providing a jumping in point with any justice th’sheridans will accrue the following their songs so richly deserve.

A Quiet Year by th’sheridans is out digitally now via Reckless Yes. Pieces Of Great, a compilation of remastered tracks from across their 10 years as a band, is out 10 September on limited CD and digital.


Find th’sheridans: Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | Bandcamp

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Disclosure: Sarah Lay is editor of Popoptica and co-founder of Reckless Yes, so has some involvement in the release of this record – but she really does only write about or work on music she loves.

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Sarah Lay

Sarah Lay is editor of Popoptica.
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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