I hadn’t heard O’Shea before until my first pass through their new single “Everything Means Nothing”. I am impressed. Mark and Jay O’Shea, a husband-and-wife team, will win over many other converts to their artistic cause with this sparkling love song. They avoid the plethora of trite cliches endemic to the love song genre while still imbuing the performance with every bit of the same affection that sets the best examples of this type apart from its lesser peers. The duo has played marquee venues in both their native Australia and the United States, including Nashville’s Grand Old Opry, and I’m not surprised they’ve garnered a bevy of awards for their work. Greater success awaits them if they continue working at the same high standard we hear with the new single.
They beguiled me from the first. Mark O’Shea’s opening line creates a marvelous atmosphere with seemingly little effort and his intonation is a big reason why. The low-watt ambiance the music and vocals alike generate carries listeners into the O’Shea’s personal experiences as a married couple without any hint of intrusion. I feel like they are opening their hearts to us and structuring the lyrics and singing as a quasi-dialogue between the two principles conjures the illusion that we are overhearing them reminisce about their lives. It has a magical effect.
Jay O’Shea’s voice provides a perfect counterpoint. I feel lulled into warmth by the delicate, glass-like qualities of her voice and how she invests so much emotion into every line. She particularly stands out during the song’s chorus where her upper tier vocal pyrotechnics elevate the song several notches. They give themselves excellent lyrics to work with and it helps propel their standalone and combined vocal talents to a higher level.
I think they have a perfect music video to go along with the song. Utilizing private footage from their lives to further buttress an already highly intimate song is an obvious masterstroke that anyone lucky enough to know love will relate to. It depicts the highs of their personal lives, the memories that will last them a lifetime, while never shying away from the challenging points as well. This is an already intensely human song, but the video makes it seem more so.
Lindsey Jackson’s five-star production serves them well. Few producers are as adept at framing songs, any genre, in such an even-handed fashion. She emphasizes the song’s intimacy without resorting to any sort of garish element trying to attract listeners. She presents the song cleanly without any affectation. It makes for an even more enjoyable, satisfying listening experience.
O’Shea is all about their audiences having a life-affirming time. It doesn’t mean that their music coddles listeners. “Everything Means Nothing” confronts their marriage head-on, pulls no punches, and delivers a message that, yes, joy with another person is indeed possible, if you are willing to pay the price. The trip through life is worth it. The trip through this song is a journey that you’ll want to take again.
Heather Savage