 The tradition of British rock bands taking American roots music as an influence, adding their own sound and feel, and sending it back across the pond is hardly a new one – however, each successive generation of artists does this slightly differently and applies it to a new style of music, and the 22-20s are no exception. Rather than the hard rock stylings of the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, the 22-20s combine a unique mix of indie/alternative rock, folk, blues, and country to produce their own unique brand of rock music.
The 22-20s, who took their name from the Skip James song “22-20 Blues”, were formed by Martin Trimble (guitars/vocals) and Glen Bartup (bass) in 2002. After a series of singles and EP’s, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2004, and then spent the next year-and-a-half touring and supporting such acts as Oasis, the Black Crowes, and Kings of Leon before splitting up in early 2006. However, this proved to be just a temporary hiatus, and the band reformed in 2008 for the Heavenly Festival. Along with Trimble and Bartup, guitarist Dan Hare and drummer James Irving fill out the band’s new lineup, and together they began touring England in 2009 using the pseudonym “Bitter Pills” while working on their next album. With no formal announcement, the single “Latest Heartbreak” was released in digital format at the end of 2009, and later became a free single of the week via Apple’s iTunes service. Following that, the band released a series of live-in-the-studio versions of some of the tracks from Shake/Shiver/Moan, further developing the underground buzz surrounding the release. The album made its debut in Japan on May 19, and hit the shelves of US record stores on June 22.
Shake/Shiver/Moan is a bit of a roller coaster, both in terms of the music as well as the subject matter of the songs. The opening track “Heart on a String” immediately grabs hold of the listener, with an upbeat rhythm that belies the emotions in the lyrics; the next track, “Bitter Pills”, slows things down quite a bit and just floats along for the next few minutes until the tempo goes back into overdrive on “Talk to Me”. This up-and-down feel continues throughout the entire album, both from track to track as well as occasionally within the songs themselves, such as the title track which begins slow but gradually builds to a charging, rockabilly-inspired climax. However, at no point does the album ever feel disjointed; instead the band’s energy flows through from track to track with occasional peaks but no real valleys to speak of....full text |
| Although UK rock fans may have a different perspective, for US audiences, the two-year-long “breakup” of the 22-20s just wasn’t that big of a deal. Although bandleader Martin Trimble took a bold and heartfelt stand – publicly dismissing the quality of the band’s debut album and essentially refusing to continue until the 22-20s’ recorded output was up to snuff – the relatively tiny impact the band made on American shores means that, for many folks, the six years between SHAKE/SHIVER/MOAN and the band’s debut is just a somewhat longer-than-normal interregnum. That said, Trimble and the 22-20s definitely seem to have gotten their bearings, and SHAKE/SHIVER/MOAN delivers on much of the polished, blues-rock promise of the band’s early work. Finding a balance between crunchy swagger and epic melody, cuts like “Ocean” and “Heart on a String” shine with a gritty energy, while more slow-moving numbers like “Let It Go” and the title track evoke a raw, classic-rock vibe. To be sure, SHAKE/SHIVER/MOAN could have benefited considerably from someone in the control room suggesting that perhaps not every song needs infinitely multi-tracked vocals, and that more of Trimble’s effort may have been better utilized capturing the rickety emotion he manifests on the boozy swoon of “Bitter Pills.” But it’s also clear that this album gets much closer to the 22-20s’ vision of contemporary rock ’n’ roll than anything else they’ve released....full text |
| This U.K. group's 2004 debut was then-trendy blues punk, the kind of sound a band can mine every year or so until it splits up or gets some new influences. Weirdly, both of those things happened. It's taken a breakup and reunion for the 22-20s to record a follow-up, and now you can hear Sixties psych rock and Nineties Brit pop in their sound. They're best when their throwbacks clash; "Ocean" is the best Byrds tune Oasis never wrote, and on "Let It Go," singer Martin Trimble does a great stoned, ruffle-sleeved Bono....full text |
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