Anna Shoemaker is kicking the door down with her new single, “I’m Your Guy.” She tosses that perception to the wind and creates a track that’s as raucous and unforgiving as it is irresistibly appealing. A longtime purveyor of vulnerable lyricism and genre-blurring edge, Shoemaker kicks things up a few notches on this grungy alt-rock ballad. “I’m Your Guy” growls, it smolders, it stakes a claim. Dirty guitars chug beneath contemplative melodies that envelop listeners in a world filled with tension and on the edge of beautiful chaos. Every chord carries a punch of emotional weight, but it never seems heavy-handed.
It pulses with energy, the appealing sort of danger that’s difficult to turn away from. The song represents a confident step in Shoemaker’s evolution. It’s not so much a break from her previous work but a darkening of its corners. That signature vulnerability remains, but now it is laced with spirit and defiance. She’s no longer simply informing us how she feels, now she’s daring us to feel it as well. Shoemaker brings it all and more with self-assuredness. There’s a chilling intimacy to her tone, partially welcoming you in even as it keeps you off balance. The lyrics, while still personal, are cast in a more mysterious energy, less confessional and more confrontational.
Now she wears her heart on her sleeve and has stitched it into armor. The most impressive thing “I’m Your Guy” has going for it is how confident it is. Shoemaker sounds less like someone asking for space, she’s carving it out, with every distorted chord and lyrical energy. The result is a track that sounds elegant. It rattles in the brain long after it’s over, echoing like a secret that’s too good to keep. Anna Shoemaker shows that she can grow and dominate. “I’m Your Guy” is a rough battle cry and a promise in one. If this is the direction she’s going, consider us buckled in.