Sunday, June 22, 2008
Hmm.
I just finished the majority of my review for the debut Watson Twins' album. Tomorrow I'm going to listen to it with a fresh pair of ears, most likely on my lunch hour, cut what I've written in half, and hopefully dig down and find something more positive to say.
Their "Just Like Heaven" cover is stunning, which is what led me to contact their press and request an advance copy of the album in the first place, but the rest, complete with 10 originals in addition to the cover, left me wanting. :(
This is no Sera Cahoone story. And by that I mean the story of one (or two) who has been in the back for so long to step in and share a fair, deserved version of the limelight. The Watson Twins are excellent songwriters. Musically, they leave no room for complaint, but the record as a whole ... seriously lacking.
So, I had to take a break from writing the review. It doesn't deserve so much criticism, but at the same time, if I don't offer it, no one will. It seems that fans and critics alike are in love with the pair. Who wouldn't be? They are beautiful. Their angelic voices can captivate one far beyond their looks. And combined? Forget it. Add in that Southern, homegrown Kentucky charm, and who wouldn't be smitten?
But beyond what meets the eye, their lyrics and overall emotional tone of the album do not offer much more than what is skin deep. There's only vague allusions to personal experience. There're contrived rhyme schemes. Even upon considering their most ideal harmonies, perfectly in that they are not overdone, one can only place a veil over so much.
The album only offers maybe three songs that truly grabbed me, and even they didn't enough to foresee myself busting out this record to listen to much long after the review is published. Nope. No Sera Cahoone or Jenn Wood here.
They are compared to some of the greats -- Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, but what I have to say is that perhaps they lack the life experience to live up to their songwriting craft in their words.
In my mind, a good song triggers feelings, memories, introspection. A good song is something you want to share with someone else. And although every single track is good in its own way; they don't do any of those things for me, so you maybe could see how I could feel a little torn in this review, right?
Even as a critic, I try to avoid negativity. I try to seek out what others would love in an album, and write about that, even if it isn't my thing (with the exception of the blog I wrote on Narrow Stairs, which I did not publish for any publication other than blogs), but in this case, I feel like if I don't say something, no one will.
Perhaps all this praise lavished on the twins is a matter of groupthink: one person loved them, so everyone did. Jenny Lewis did, and we loved them on her famed solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat. But still. It wouldn't be right to say they are not talented enough on their own to support solo work -- they definitely are. It's more disappointing that although these 11 tracks were the product of years of work and months in the studio, at the the end of the day you've got is a bunch of musically cohesive yes, and pleasantly sounding tunes, but about what? Nothing. I can't say I thought of much at all listening to each track over and over.
Ah ... anyway. Anybody else ever had this feeling? Because this cognitive dissonance I'm experiencing over the album is about as much as I'd ever had about anything I'd reviewed. Torn between singing its praises and calling it out, and feeling it so poignantly, knowing these songs are just as personal to them as my own are to me.
I just finished the majority of my review for the debut Watson Twins' album. Tomorrow I'm going to listen to it with a fresh pair of ears, most likely on my lunch hour, cut what I've written in half, and hopefully dig down and find something more positive to say.
Their "Just Like Heaven" cover is stunning, which is what led me to contact their press and request an advance copy of the album in the first place, but the rest, complete with 10 originals in addition to the cover, left me wanting. :(
This is no Sera Cahoone story. And by that I mean the story of one (or two) who has been in the back for so long to step in and share a fair, deserved version of the limelight. The Watson Twins are excellent songwriters. Musically, they leave no room for complaint, but the record as a whole ... seriously lacking.
So, I had to take a break from writing the review. It doesn't deserve so much criticism, but at the same time, if I don't offer it, no one will. It seems that fans and critics alike are in love with the pair. Who wouldn't be? They are beautiful. Their angelic voices can captivate one far beyond their looks. And combined? Forget it. Add in that Southern, homegrown Kentucky charm, and who wouldn't be smitten?
But beyond what meets the eye, their lyrics and overall emotional tone of the album do not offer much more than what is skin deep. There's only vague allusions to personal experience. There're contrived rhyme schemes. Even upon considering their most ideal harmonies, perfectly in that they are not overdone, one can only place a veil over so much.
The album only offers maybe three songs that truly grabbed me, and even they didn't enough to foresee myself busting out this record to listen to much long after the review is published. Nope. No Sera Cahoone or Jenn Wood here.
They are compared to some of the greats -- Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, but what I have to say is that perhaps they lack the life experience to live up to their songwriting craft in their words.
In my mind, a good song triggers feelings, memories, introspection. A good song is something you want to share with someone else. And although every single track is good in its own way; they don't do any of those things for me, so you maybe could see how I could feel a little torn in this review, right?
Even as a critic, I try to avoid negativity. I try to seek out what others would love in an album, and write about that, even if it isn't my thing (with the exception of the blog I wrote on Narrow Stairs, which I did not publish for any publication other than blogs), but in this case, I feel like if I don't say something, no one will.
Perhaps all this praise lavished on the twins is a matter of groupthink: one person loved them, so everyone did. Jenny Lewis did, and we loved them on her famed solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat. But still. It wouldn't be right to say they are not talented enough on their own to support solo work -- they definitely are. It's more disappointing that although these 11 tracks were the product of years of work and months in the studio, at the the end of the day you've got is a bunch of musically cohesive yes, and pleasantly sounding tunes, but about what? Nothing. I can't say I thought of much at all listening to each track over and over.
Ah ... anyway. Anybody else ever had this feeling? Because this cognitive dissonance I'm experiencing over the album is about as much as I'd ever had about anything I'd reviewed. Torn between singing its praises and calling it out, and feeling it so poignantly, knowing these songs are just as personal to them as my own are to me.
Labels: Jenny Lewis, Music, Sera Cahoone, The Watson Twins
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