The Company Of Amateur Souls and the Cost of Staying Amateur, Ten Years Into All The Things
Mike Dowey’s Shrewsbury Project Self-Releases Retro Guitar Pop Without Making Any Money
No money is made at The Company Of Amateur Souls, and the band says so in its own biography. The Shrewsbury project belongs to songwriter Mike Dowey and long-time collaborator Lawrence Perry Top. It puts its records out on its own label, CoAmSouls Records. All The Things closes the 2026 album Young Once. It is what that arrangement produces: three minutes of upbeat retro guitar pop about carrying on.
The Company Of Amateur Souls’ All The Things sits in the playlist below. It is three minutes of retro guitar pop from a Shrewsbury project that releases everything itself, and the project’s artist profile gathers the rest of its coverage. The song reached BestRock.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Press play, then read on for how the chorus is built.
The Plain Chorus That Carries All The Things by The Company Of Amateur Souls
The band’s official site puts the position plainly: not the music business, not the music industry, just the music. That is a constraint as much as a slogan. With nothing coming back from it financially, everything rests on the song, and All The Things rests on its chorus.
The hook is short and unguarded. I believe in me, I believe in you, it begins. Two more lines then hand the title its meaning: all the things we can be, all the things we can do. There is no clever turn and no wink. Instead, the band writes it straight and lets the guitars carry the weight.
Underneath, the arrangement leans on the decades the band names as influences. Its own notes cite the 60s, 70s and 80s alongside modern pop. So the track sits closest to that older end, with melodic indie pop rock hooks over the driving energy of classic rock.
That places it near two familiar reference points. Tom Petty built I Won’t Back Down in 1989 on plain defiance over chiming guitars. These verses share that refusal to be beaten. Similarly, Crowded House proved with Don’t Dream It’s Over that a pop-rock hook can stay simple and still last. That is the bet this chorus makes.
A Lyric About Getting By, Believing in Each Other and What Everybody Has a Right To
The verses set out the argument in ordinary words. The troubles of the world cannot beat the singer now. It does not matter what anyone else does, because the singer knows how to get by. Then the second verse widens the circle. All of us together could be strong, and however bad things get, we can carry on if we try.
The middle section is where the song becomes generous. It lists the things we ever dreamt of, the things everybody has a right to, and the things we ever wanted or needed. Finally, it lands on a single claim: all these things are true.
The writing avoids metaphor almost entirely. That is a choice, and it suits a song meant to be sung back. A listener does not have to decode anything, because every line says what it means.
Two Verses, a Middle Section and a Repeated Last Line Give All The Things Its Shape
The structure is as direct as the words. Two verses each lead into the chorus, and the middle section follows. After that, the first verse returns before the chorus and the middle section come round again. The song closes by repeating its last line, so the final thing a listener hears is the claim itself.
It is also an old song in a new place. The band posted an audio version of All The Things on its YouTube channel in October 2016 and issued it as a single in August 2024. Then, on 1 April 2026, it became the final track on Young Once. Ten years is a long time to keep faith with a chorus. Closing an album with it says the band still believes the line.
That pace of work is the other half of the story. Dowey writes and composes every track, and the pair arrange, produce and perform everything themselves. In 2026 alone the label has carried two albums, Young Once and Still Dreaming, two EPs and a run of singles. Without a label schedule to wait for, the only limit is the next song.
The single suits listeners who like melodic indie pop rock hooks with the lift of retro guitar rock. Anyone who wants three minutes of encouragement without irony will find it here too.
From the BestRock.News curator team: “All The Things keeps its words plain on purpose. A chorus built on belief in yourself and in the person next to you leaves the guitars room to do the lifting. The repeated last line then closes the song on its one claim.”
Where to Hear All The Things and Follow The Company Of Amateur Souls Online
All The Things closes the album Young Once, which is on Spotify and Apple Music. The band’s own Spotify playlist gathers more of the catalogue.
Follow The Company Of Amateur Souls across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube channel, Linktree, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. The official site carries the mailing list for new releases.
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