Soft Dangerous Shores kicks off with "Fireroad (for Two)," a brooding dark melody with breathy vocals similar to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It certainly is a harbinger for the rest of the songs on the album. Whitley has filled this album with very mellow, spare songs that come across as dark poems set to music that is equal parts acoustic and electronic.The intro in the title track sounds pretty similar to Echo and the Bunnymen. Aside from that, and "Breath of Shadows," which features Whitley on the banjo, it's hard for me to comment on individual songs. The songs do seem to run together, but not like your average pop/punk band that only knows three chords. This almost seems like one piece in eleven movements. Whitley himself states that there are two themes running throughout this album: love and death. Maybe those recurring themes are what make the album seem like one unified piece.
This is a well-crafted album with thoughtful songs. Whitley has no problem conveying that these songs are meaningful to him personally. If you are a fan of Nick Cave, you'll probably want to check this out.
