You Tell Me – You Tell Me Album Review

Track List

Enough To Notice
Get Out Of The Room
Foreign Parts
Water Cooler
Springburn
No Hurry
Clarion Call
Jouska
Invisible Ink
Starting Point
Kabuki

The debut album of You Tell Me sees one half of Field Music, Peter Brewis, teaming up with contemporary folk singer Sarah Hayes for a really interesting collaborative debut. Despite a slightly wobbly start, the pair settle into a consistent rhythm early on with some beautiful harmonies combining with two distinct styles clashing and merging together. The midway point tracks, No Hurry and Clarion Call, show off the best of these two styles but toward the end of the CD, the comforting style becomes a little too comforting, failing to ignite any memorable tracks as the styles start to blur into one.

The 11 track album opens with Enough To Notice. After a slow build, the chorus bursts in, throwing a mix of a synthetic keyboard bassline with the first taste of the duet singing. It feels a little rapid and at times a bit messy but if you can get past this track, You Tell Me finds a consistent rhythm early on that’s given a chance to really shine here. The production style has echoes of Indie Pop, folk, 70’s groove and all kinds of interesting echoes of genres that have been brought together to great effect.

As mentioned before, there’s two distinct style of songs at play here. One sees a more ballad-orientated feel, drawing on minimalist instruments and heartfelt vocals to show off the range of the two singers. The other, sees a more upbeat, pop-orientated focus that’s perfectly shown in the track Clarion Call, my stand out track of the album. The harmonies and emotionally charged vocals from both singers are ultimately the real winner here though and is worth checking out for that alone. Unfortunately, it also gives the album ia somewhat rigid feel, with the later flurry of songs failing to really stand out from the rest of the album.

As a debut piece, You Tell Me is a really interesting, fascinating blend of vocals and instruments, all wrapped up in an audibly pleasing 11 track album. The coming together of these two artists does feel a little messy to begin with but once they both find their feet, the album shines. There’s some good stuff here, most of which rooted to the middle portion of the album which highlights the pinnacle of the duo’s talents. On a future album, I’m sure things will feel a little tigher production-wise but You Tell Me’s debut album is a very interesting and well written blend of sounds and styles worth checking out.