29 June 2018
Are you a fan of Glór Tíre, Opry an Iúir and the rest of TG4’s round-the-clock coverage of the country & Irish scene? Then you’ll find the post-chorus part of 2018 chart-topper ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra to be similar to the chorus of 2014 single ‘Flowers In Your Hair’ by Carlow country & Irish troubadour Derek Ryan. That’s not merely your opinion or mine; it’s the law. Derek now gets a nice sawn-off percentage of ‘Shotgun’. God, I love seeing our number ones in court.
Much as how Derek Ryan is one of the many communion-suited nice wee boys of country & Irish, George Ezra stands with James Bay, and others whose names I’ve forgotten along with their songs, in the ranks of post-Sheeran polite, well-spoken English folk-pop lads. George’s USP is his deep voice, exhibited to break-out effect in the hooting chorus of previous hit ‘Budapest’. The clunky ‘Shotgun’ doesn’t even have that song’s irritatingly recognisable hook, instead being the sort of flat, nagging, repetitive moan a male folk-pop singer-songer emits when they are pressed to write a follow-up to a hit single. His warped vowels are also typical of the southern English nice-boy trying to “do” folk: the sonic equivalent of growing a moustache or wearing a grandfather shirt. George doesn’t go full Mumford but that’s not going to save him. Decommission ‘Shotgun’; bury it; put it verifiably beyond use.
