Suffering From a Case of The Weepies

 Check ‘em out – official site – mySpace – amazon

While I really like to focus on true indie or less well known acts, I recently came across the latest release from a fairly well known duo called The Weepies and just felt compelled to write about it…

This album sees harmonies that reminisce of Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas, and the more laid-back sounds of the 60’s and 70’s combined with arrangements seemingly inspired by more modern influences like Aimee Mann or Shawn Colvin. This marriage of old and new crafts the tremendously strong but wonderfully quiet foundation of The Weepies’ sound. 

Looking at a picture of the duo of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen will remind anyone who’s seen the movie “once “ of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (and by the way, if you haven’t seen “once” you should.) But don’t be confused, while Glen and Markéta have a their own beautiful sound, The Weepies’ vocals stand alone as an amazing example of symmetry and completeness.  In fact, I have to bring up groups like Simon and Garfunkel when searching for a good example of the pure complementary nature of The Weepies vocals.

Anchoring the outstanding medlodies and harmonies is some solid writing. They don’t call themselves The Weepies for nothing… Some of the subject matter is hardly what someone would call upbeat, but regardless of happiness quotient, each track on “Hideaway” is highly crafted. You can feel the writer’s attention to each syllable, and every song seems to hit some chord of truth in the listener.

While the entire album is well done, high points include:

“All Good Things”

“Antarctica”

“Not Dead Yet”

“Can’t Go Back Now”

“Hideaway”

If you’re looking for something low-key to poppy and good for a contemplative summer night you should go grab this one. Grab some wine, sit on the porch and check out The Weepies.