Black Submarine, for the most part, tend to lay off the guitar pyrotechnics, with McCabe using his instruments to build the overall atmosphere of the album, rather than show off with endless solos. That atmosphere defines New Shores – the sound is big, sprawling and bombastic, which only occasionally spills over into pomposity. Vocals are shared between Rossi and Tucker, and while both singers do a fine job, it’s Tucker who provides the highlights. This does tend to rob the band of a real sense of identity and any future Black Submarine projects would do well to place Tucker centrestage on a permanent basis. That said, there are plenty of great moments on New Shores – opening track Black Submarine is dark and relentless, and unexpectedly breaks down into a rather funky jam halfway through. It’s almost enough to forgive the band for the constant, repetitive vocals of “this is our Black Submarine, Black Submarine”. Here So Rain is even better, a swirl of guitars enveloping Tucker’s evocative vocals and although the sound is epic, it never once threatens to overpower, despite a running time of over eight minutes. Move Me A Mountain is at the polar opposite end of the spectrum, a delightfully stripped down, folky number – it sounds totally different to the rest of the album, simply being an acoustic guitar and strings backing Tucker, but it works rather beautifully. Similarly, the gorgeous Lover holds back on the bombast and works all the better for it, a swaying ballad in which Rossi and Tucker combine to heartbreaking effect.