Shotgun Tori
& The Hounds
Tracklisting:
1. Feels So Good
2. R.O.A.R
3. Gravitas*
4. Late Again
5. Cautionary Measure
6. Put Your Back Into It (feat. Kobus de Kok Jnr)
7. Don’t Worry Be Happy
8. One Eyed Dog*
9. These Birds
10. Goodbye Amanda
(*Recommended for radio)
Genre(s)
Rock / Folk / Country
Label
Self-Released
Format
CD/Digital
Release Date
28 July 2019
Shotgun Tori & The Hounds are an indie-folk group out of Johannesburg, South Africa. Led by singer-songwriter Victoria de La Harpe a.k.a. Shotgun Tori, along with Jonathan Whittington and brothers Fred (the group’s producer) and Calvin Van Der Merwe, the band are articulate and intelligent story tellers, able to combine humor, emotion and beauty in an engaging new take on the indie-folk-and-country sound.
The band’s self-titled album is a collection of tales and spirit. Raw and melodic, the sound brings to mind Drive-By-Truckers if fronted by a combination of Amanda Shires and Martha Wainwright. Lyrically, the songs on Shotgun Tori & The Hounds follow Tori’s imperative that stories are to be shared and not left to whither quietly. A confessional songwriter by nature, the themes she tackles are personal and profound. Miscarriage (Cautionary Measures), Infidelity (Goodbye Amanda) and Hard Times (One Eyed Dog) are all faced head on. The result is something at once powerful, vulnerable and defiant – all held firm by a production that draws as much from the Pixies and Radiohead as it does from the Beatles, Neko Case and Richmond Fontaine.
For Shotgun Tori & The Hounds , the hope is that this album is a first big step out into the world. “I want to speak to people,” Tori says. “I want to speak to their very insides. Maybe these stories will speak to those who can’t tell the stories themselves – to someone who can’t find the words.”
Shotgun Tori’s full discography:
Shotgun Tori & The Hounds (2019)
Be Brave (2013)
Are We There Yet? (2011)