Shawn Brown goes down swinging on his sweeping new single ‘What a Way to Go’

There's a point in some relationships when survival stops meaning escape and starts meaning choosing who will stand beside you as everything else begins to give way. And on his new effort ‘What a Way to Go’, Portland singer-songwriter Shawn Brown captures that moment with a broad, guitar-led rock song about two people holding onto each other while the world around them becomes increasingly unstable.

Produced by Grecco Buratto, it pushes the frontman's music towards a fuller and more forceful sound, combining electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, piano, Wurlitzer and a driving rhythm section around a chorus clearly designed to be sung by more than one voice.

And that communal quality suits the song’s central idea. ‘What a Way to Go’ is rooted in doomed romance, but it doesn't treat the relationship as purely tragic. There is defiance in the decision to remain together, even when circumstances suggest the ending has already been written.

The influence of artists such as Sam Fender, The Gaslight Anthem and Counting Crows is understandable in the single’s combination of personal storytelling and open-road rock momentum. Yet his own distinctive vocal delivery keeps the track from becoming too closely attached to any one reference point.

Recorded at The Trench in Portland with engineer Gregg Williams, the song features longtime collaborators Ben Landsverk, Jeff Langston and Ned Failing, whose playing gives the arrangement a steady foundation. Buratto’s additional instrumentation then widens the frame, allowing the track to move from intimate tension into something much more cinematic.

With its muscular arrangement, strong melodic lift and bittersweet core, ‘What a Way to Go’ finds Shawn Brown pushing his roots-oriented songwriting into a more expansive rock setting. It's a song about uncertainty, but it refuses to sound defeated.