River Shook - River Shook

Facing hard truths takes guts. Just ask River Shook. Their long-overdue self-titled debut album follows their journey of self-realization, opting to change their lives in cataclysmic ways rather than running around in circles. "I had a really hard/fucked up life until somewhat recently," Shook writes on Instagram, "and I write about my struggles honestly."

"Come hell or high water, I will be free at least," they repeat in the album's opening track, "Free at Last." Shook will be free from the chains of the past, free from society's rigid beliefs, and free from harmful behaviors. River Shook, co-produced with their fiancé and guitarist, Blake Tallent, marks a significant restart to their lives and career. They recorded the album in a home studio. They have no label support or record deal. And that's quite all right. Shook makes music on their own terms, able to shape-shift and define what it means to be a real storyteller.

With the gravel-soaked "Country Angel," Shook sifts through the very complicated nature of love. "We can simultaneously experience euphoria, total abandon, and a grief for an inevitable end," they share, "end of this night, end of this feeling, end of this moment in time. It's all already slipping through our fingers." The fight for love continues with "Lost Without Your Love," a more reflective ditty that glistens in the morning sun after you've just woken up lying next to your lover, and "If We Got a Chance," in which they promise to get home as fast as possible following a long tour. "I know it's hard on you when I'm gone," Shook sings in the latter.

These stand in brutal contrast to "Venom & Gold," perhaps Shook's sharpest and most relentless on the album. They wind through the toxic waste of a burning relationship/friendship. "Your words are all like poison darts," they snarl. Later, they wade chest-deep into the muck, singing, "Ain't gonna catch me turning my back to you 'cause I know what you are, and I see what you do."

"How can I forgive myself to having nothing in my hand?" Shook digs deep, deeper than they ever have before in "Beater Car." They funnel more biting guitars into the arrangement, letting their emotions all hang out on the line. "I can't even buy a beater car for myself, and it's graduation day," they admit.

The thematic avalanche roars into the closing track, "Loving Me is Like Rolling a Big Old Rock," a deceptively light arrangement carrying the weight of the world, much like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. "Well, I wish my momma loved me / Sat me down on her knee," Shook unfurls about their identity. "Looked and long deep into my eyes / And told me what she sees." On the second verse, they address their father, singing, "Well, I wish my dadded listened when I told him who I am / Wish he was as proud of me as I am."

River Shook's raw honesty makes the listener ache and feel every twinge of anger, sadness, joy, and love with the heat of a thousand searing cattle irons. Shook's debut doesn't just capture their own story but also that of most queer people trying to survive these days. It's not easy, but there's true power in facing your front.