This summer, country has been making a big comeback with fans of all stripes because of the incredible work of indie acts like Boys Club for Girls, and in the pair’s all-new single “5 O’Clock Shadow,” listeners get a picture window into the reason why they’ve been drawing so much attention towards their local scene lately. Boys Club for Girls has an original sound that is equal parts country, folk, pop, and just a taste of roots rock, and though “5 O’Clock Shadow” gives up a rather modest melody, the chills that it creates are anything but meek.
The drums are probably the rawest element in this track, but I think that they were deliberately left this way during the mastering process. With the strings sparkling like a pristine lake in the afternoon sunlight, the percussion adds a little bit of much-needed authenticity to the rhythm of the song. For every bombastic feature in “5 O’Clock Shadow,” there’s something old-fashioned, simple, and unpretentious to balance out the aesthetics of the material. In this sense, Boys Club for Girls aren’t all that different from alternative country artists who have gone down a similar path in years past, though they take their pop influences just a touch more seriously.
Honestly, I thought that the music video for “5 O’Clock Shadow” was a little minimalistic when compared to the source material that it’s supposed to be supporting, but I’m not certain that I would go as far as to describe it as basic at all. The countrified compassion has been exploited by a lot of lesser artists, but because the music is as exciting and relatable as it is, I think that there would be a lot worth writing home about here no matter how you break this down. Boys Club for Girls make a fine song and companion video, and at the same time, I can understand why they might have wanted to play it safe with their latest release.
If Boys Club for Girls introduced an electric element into their sound, I think that they would be able to get even more of an evocative tone out of the music that they write. There are scores of bands making songs that sound almost exactly like “5 O’Clock Shadow,” but none of them have had the chops to get a crowd rocking like this pair potentially could. They’ve got something that’s not yet fully developed in this single, but they’re demonstrating enough zeal to warrant another trip to the studio in the future.
They’re on their way, and with more time and discipline I thoroughly believe that Boys Club for Girls could join the ranks of the Nashville elite. It’s not going to be an easy road, and they will likely have to make a couple of adjustments to fit in with the mainstream market that will inevitably decide their fate in the years still to come, but I encourage country fans to give “5 O’Clock Shadow” a listen and its music video a watch to determine for themselves just what they think about these fascinating and truly gifted country crooners.