BRITISH duo The Shires’ second studio album Brave is 11 tracks of easy listening country music.

However, it is so easy listening that it verges on being boring – although the album is pleasant to listen to and would make good background music, it isn’t particularly inspiring.

Ben Earle and Chrissie Rhodes, hailing from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire respectively, have voices that complement each other really beautifully.

Unfortunately, because many of the songs sound so similar, only a couple stand out.

‘Friday Night’, in particular, is a very catchy, lively song.

When I saw the track named ‘Made in England’, I had high hopes that it might be another fast-paced, fun song to listen to.

However, I was left pretty disappointed, because like the other final three tracks, it is quite slow and I found myself wanting to turn it off.

It is a real shame that there aren’t more tracks like ‘Friday Night’ and ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, which the pair do really well and are an enjoyable listen.

JASMIN BARRASS