Dan + Shay’s latest single “I Should Probably Go to Bed” is one of their most ornate yet — layers upon layers of dense Beach Boys-meet-ELO harmonies mix it up with big strings and hold their own against the powerful vocals of Shay Mooney. On Wednesday, the country duo released a new live video of the song that strips away all the bombast for pure performance.
Recorded at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, the new clip features only the voices of the two men and Dan Smyers’ piano playing. Smyers begins the song with its familiar, steady set of chords, which shift to become elegant arpeggios and then, finally, to more urgent staccato riffs in place of the recording’s strings. Mooney shows off his acrobatic tenor, skillfully leaping between softer and full-bore passages near the top of his range as Smyers chimes in with a complex countermelody.
“For us, the vocals are the thing,” Smyers told Rolling Stone when the song was released. “As much as I practice, I’m never going to be a great guitar player or a savant musician, but I can arrange vocals really well.”
“I Should Probably Go to Bed” follows the duo’s “10,000 Hours,” a collaboration with Justin Bieber that recently helped the group nab four CMA Awards nominations, including Single of the Year. Embracing his affinity for the studio, Smyers produced “I Should Probably Go to Bed” and played all the instruments on the original recording.
From Rolling Stone US
