With Ullah’s debut EP arriving later this month, we thought we’d take a look at her last single. Released a last year, Shoulder To Shoulder is Ullah at her most stripped back and really shows off the depth of her songwriting.
“I’m honest”, Ullah sings in the opening line, before revealing “yet I tell myself white lies, porky pies”. It summarises the song as an introspective look at how the inner voice speaks within, and the way a lack of self-confidence can eat at that voice. The “I wear it” line that echoes throughout the tune gives us hope, it seems to say – yes this is inside me, this is how I feel, and it is part of my internal dialogue, but I’m not going to fight it, I’m going to “wear it” like a badge of honour and get on with it.
Musically the song starts stripped back with a very nice, Something in The Way-esque sounding acoustic guitar accompanying the vocals, perfect for the intimate nature of the song. The music then builds to match the lyrics, starting with some simple vocal harmonies and lifting to a subdued crescendo. It’s a build-up but the song maintains that initial intimacy, a nice effort on the production front.
Very much looking forward to what comes next from Ullah.