Mightmare - Cruel Liars

Over the last decade, Sarah Shook has unabashedly devoted every ounce of their being into exploring musical landscapes with bare knuckled truth-telling and an un-glossed image rarely found in music today.

All of this has made Shook a relied-on fixture in the present-day outlaw country movement. Now releasing under a new artistic project, Mightmare, with Cruel Liars, Shook continues to broaden their output and further deepen the intensity of the genre itself. Shook serves as the sole writer, producer and engineer for all eight tracks on Cruel Liars, resulting in a controlled set that intricately weaves together the light and dark of a season of healing.

Cruel Liars is less a reflection of what should be said and more of a yearning of what has to be said. The ethereal title track finds Shook bringing forth fragments of difficult truth from the depths within themselves, whilst the nuanced ‘Make It Work’ is a heartfelt statement about defining expectations of adult relationships. The uplifting and shockingly pop-leaning ‘Easy’ is an intimate showcase of pure love which leads well into the aptly chosen closer ‘Sure Thing’, where Shook is reflective of their previous trauma while remaining hopeful for the future.

With this set, Shook has yet again demonstrated themselves as an artist unafraid to venture into new territories; fully displaying the raw trials of their path to fulfillment without any limitations.

8/10

Cruel Liars is out on Friday 14th October via Kill Rock Stars. You can purchase the record from one of Holler's selected partners below: