- Genre: 'Rock'
- Release Date: '28th August 2020'
Our Rating:
‘Where The Ships Go To Die’ is Clyne’s first release in 6 years, following on from the 2014 album ‘The Never Ending Pageant’. He’s not bene slacking off in the meantime – just busy with other things.
Musically, ‘Where The Ships Go To Die’ is very much of an 80s AOR persuasion, but equally alludes to the Scottish rock tradition of the likes of Goodbye Mr MacKenzie and Big Country. There’s also a subtle dash of country in the mix, and a couple of celtic licks in the guitars that again reflect his Aberdeen origins. It’s big on sound – the production is full, solid, surround-sound, and it’s big on soul: Clyne sings every word from the heart as he sings of a subject that’s close to his heart, while reflecting on history and heritage.
Explaining the song’s inspiration, Clyne says, “I’ve spent many years working on boats. ‘Where The Ships Go To Die’ was born from such a trip, where I happened across scores of boats and vessels lying on beaches. Holes in their hulls, diesel spewing from their tanks, battered, broken and abandoned. These ships had no future, no hope, devoid of the safety, strength, buoyancy, independence and serenity we associate with ships. Friendship, family and love are also a haven for the heart. If we don’t care for them, maintain them and respect them through the storms of fragility of these unprecedented times they too may end up dead and abandoned on a beach like those ships...”
It’s a sobering thought, and a moving one, but there’s nothing mawkish or sentimental about the delivery, though, just a tangible sense of passion that makes for a strong single.
