The Pierces - You and I

“You and I” is the fourth album from Alabama sisters, The Pierces, and is arguably the one that has brought them quite a bit of mainstream radio play, with the “1,2,3 song” (otherwise properly known as “You’ll Be Mine”), and “Glorious” tracks being the sort that you’ll instantly recognize even if you haven’t heard of the band themselves. However, even with their current success, there are some music purists who have criticized them heavily for losing their “quirkiness”, or “sanitizing” their lyrics. Some would argue that maintaining that quirkiness etc would not have garnered them the commercial success that they have achieved thus far, with the production carried out by Coldplay’s bassist, Guy Berryman, having altered their style too much.

Nonsense I say!

The album launches with a somewhat dark dischord intro for “You’ll be Mine”, and although during their gigs they’ll introduce it in good humour as the “1,2,3 song”, it’s far from being a vacuous” happy happy” song. Unrequited love, love lost, or fanciful dreaming, “You’ll be Mine” is a beautiful sublime track, an instant showcase for the talents of the two sisters, harmonising in well practiced perfection. What I particularly love about Pierces is that you don’t have some sibling rivalry manifesting itself in an “who can outdo the other” volume war, but instead, they sing to their own strengths, and combine them wonderfully.

The strong start continues with, “It Will Not be Forgiven”, a more wistful sounding track, but a story of someone struggling to come to terms with being left on the avenue “Seven months to the day”. It’s an odd clash in some respects when the harmonies are so catchy, but the mood somewhat darker than first impressions may give. It works though, so full credit to them for doing it.

Although there’s a wonderful kodachrome feel reminiscent of the 60’s to the album in terms of some of the harmonies and “sound”, don’t be fooled. “Love You More” sticks to the same story of something gone awry in a relationship, but this time round the guitars take a much darker lower tone removing any doubt you may have had about as to how you should feel. It’s about someone struggling to make things work, looking for answers, and the music certainly reflects that. It‘s a dark place that many have found us in, and it can be a little unsettling to listen to.

“We Are Stars” proclaims that “I just want to be loved by you”, but the sound is a lot less darker then “Love You More”, and then we hit something of a problem. The next track, Glorious. Glorious is by far the stand out track, not just because of it’s extensive amount of radio airplay but also partly down to it’s heavier leaning on the sound of the 60’s, and by comparison to a number of the other tracks, by far, more uplifting. There’s an air of Stevie Nicks and Mamas and Papas, but sometimes with a tendancy to remind me of Karen Carpenter lyrically.

“The Good Samaritan” (and I may be about to cause outrage, so put your seatbelts on ladies and gentlemen) actually struck me as being very Ennio Morricone’ish (now there‘s a perfectly ordinary sentence). I’m sorry if that wasn’t the intention, but I could easily visualise it being used in a classic film such as “Once upon a time in the West”. Initially that may provoke guffaws of laughter and the impression that this must be an awful song, but for a song to make me think of such an iconic film gives you an idea of just how great it is. It breaks from the previous tracks by not having a catchy chorus I’ll grant you, but I still love it.

“Kissing You Goodbye”, reminds me so much of California Dreamin’, that it’s astonishing. “Close My Eyes” is a very smooth slower temp song, picking up for the chorus, making way for “Space & Time”, a track that I’m fairly ambivalent about. “Drag You Down”, however is something of a surprise, again the lyrics are a bit out of kilter with the melodies, but those melodies are fantastic. “You and I” ends with “I Put Your Records On”, a finale that reflects the current status of how “You and I” are doing with respect to the albums themes.

So even though the sound will take you back to those sunny summer days of free love, smiles and hippy hair bands, the lyrics and intent however, have a leaning towards the melancholy. I feel that it’s a good album, albeit a bit schizophrenic, one that is definitely worth a listen, especially given the current music charts trend of autotuned “pop idols”.

If you‘d like to find out more about “The Pierces", you can visit their website here: www.thepiercesmusic.com