Sounds Like:  A dark noir, filled with trouble, rage, and very real heartbreak.

I have to admit something: when I do my annual countdown of my favorite twelve albums of the year, the sixth spot  is always one to watch. A pattern has emerged over the years. I usually know from first spin whats going to make the top spots. Then I have a handful that I know will be in the back half, if not totally sure of the order. When I get down to the last one or two spots, that’s when it gets tough. So I create a group of wildcards, albums that have a strong case to be included, and I get  listening. Now what’s happened the last several years is one of the wildcards breaks loose and climbs the ladder, to nab not just a spot, but the sixth spot. in 2022, the spot went to Amanda Shires, and frankly I’m still not sure “Take It Like A Man” shouldn’t be higher.

I can’t stop listening to this dark, cinematic album.  The opener, “Hawk For The Dove,” is one of my  favorite songs of the year. Just pure swagger and sin, it opens with line “ I’m well aware of what the nights made of/ and I’m coming for you like the hawk for the dove” and just goes from there.  Shires is looking for trouble, and you can’t help but egg her on.

Emotions run high throughout  “Take It Like A Man.”  There is so much vulnerability and hard feelings packed in the first half of this album, that it recalls The Chicks “Gaslighter” or even Beyonce’s “Lemonade,” both albums born out of real, very public, heartache.  But “Take It Like A Man” is its own animal, and that’s in larger part to the our main character. Amanda Shires presents a woman worn, but far from broken. On the title track, her warble presents her bruised strength in all it’s glory. She won’t stop getting up, to stand her ground until you submit.

That’s what makes this record such an enthralling listen. You’ve heard songs like “Empty Cups” or “Fault Lines” before, but never like this.  She pours heart into every note, and it truly feels at times that everything is hinging on this, this next note, the next line.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Far from it.  “Take it Like A Man,”  swoons like an epic movie. It has different dimensions that expose new sides for our heroine. “Here He Comes”  is the best side-eye song for all those mediocre men that seem take up far too much space. “Stupid Love” feels like a lost gem from the Motown era, while “Lonely At Night” channels her Carole King energy.

But It’s all Amanda Shires, standing at the center of this magnificent storm. You can’t escape her gravitational pull, and she’s has you in her sights. Fight all you want, little dove,  Amanda Shires is undefeated. You’re toast.

Favorite Track:  That opener, “Hawk for the Dove,” is a song for the ages.