Be My Thrill

by

The Weepies

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Deb Talan and Steve Tannen have been playing a delightful brand of folk-pop since 2001, when they met in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Today they're married, have two young sons, and live in Southern California. Apparently their family life is every bit as filled with joy as the sunny, low-key, occasionally pensive, irresistably melodic tunes they create in their home studio.

For their fifth album, "Be My Thrill," the duo writes and sings about love: of each other, of children, of dancing, of first love, of lost love, of the moments in life that you treasure. The songs are kid-friendly and are packed with hooks and sublime harmonies. Life is good.

If relentlessly cheerful people get on your nerves, The Weepies are not for you. But if you're down and need a lift, these songs will bring you up. For me at least, the Weepies have a warm and fuzzy effect that is antithetical to the one their name suggests.

You can listen to the full album and watch several music videos by The Weepies on their Amazon home page. Just click on their name at the top of the product page. Their songs and videos appear at the right side of the next page.

I feel somewhat guilty about saying anything negative about the music of these obviously honest and sincere people. I gave five stars to Hideaway, which I feel is as brilliantly written, performed, and produced as anything I've heard in the folk/pop genre in years. Deb Talan's voice is beguiling and many of her, and to a lesser extent Steve Tannen's, songs are gems. Unfortunately, Be My Thrill misses the high bar of both that album and it's predecessor, Say I Am You . Nothing here is either musically or lyrically as penetrating as anything on Hideaway. No clever wordplay as in 'Antarctica', or as joyous as `All This Beauty', or as emotionally stirring as `How You Survived The War'.

Many of Be My Thrill's lyrics seem like two dimensional throwaways. Songs such as`Add My Effort' and `Be My Honeypie' border on embarrassing. And where are the wonderful, melodic and unorthodox harmonies that made Hideaway so unique?

But hey, admonishments aside, the music is fun and I'm glad they seem happy. Maybe this time that's enough.