Artist: The Weepies
Album: Say I Am You
Label: Nettwerk
Tracks: 13
Review By: Jacob Gehman

When you play contemporary mellow folk with a sleight Americana touch, you need to bring something new to the table. It’s a branch of music that easily falls into mundane ruts. I mean, a genre which you can see live for free at coffee houses while people sip $5 lattes is not going to inspire too much in the way of creativity.

The Weepies do it well enough to justify their major label and distribution, but at the same time they fail to really do anything significantly different than the hundreds of artists with a similar sound also signed to major labels. Their strong point is Deb Talan’s voice, which sounds like a kindred spirit of Leigh Nash and Erin McKeown. Steve Tannan’s vocal contributions are positive when he does backup duties. Unfortunately, too often he is in the lead when he’s not the stronger of the two singers.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of “Say I Am You” is the constantly tinkling piano regulated to a quiet, back-of-the-mix role. It takes several listens of the album to even notice it, and even then you have to concentrate to pick it up. This album would have been a lot stronger if the mediocre guitar, bass, and drums weren’t the focus (or even eliminated all together) to allow the piano a greater role. It is masterfully done and a shame that it got stuck with, essentially, a non-existent part.

All in all, “Say I Am You” is a nice album that won’t offend anyone. Yet I couldn’t personally feel good if I had spent money on this album. But those who especially enjoy the mellow singer/songwriter stuff may want to check out some sound clips. Those into the genre may find more to enjoy than I do.