Stephanie Johnson and Andrew Anderson, after many a jam session and years of musical interest, have finally released their first album: “Something We Both Share.” Their debut album lays the questioning lyrics of youth over a mellowed-out, rhythmic, acoustic sound, and scores a 7.4/10.0 on the Nalin Scale of Musical Goodness.
Johnson and Anderson present a thought-provoking array of lyrical messages and questions, as is expected from young musicians on the edge of adulthood in a rapidly changing world. “I Have My Doubts” is their most direct expression of this quality, questioning the big three lyrical nemises of modern rock: The System, God, and Love. “Curse” explores the hyprocrisy of adult condescension towards young people, especially in the moral sense:
hey preacher man
you know what
you ain’t got nothing on me
that god ain’t got on you
so go ahead and judge away cause on judgement day
your time is coming too
Some of the lyrics would actually come off as rather hard-edged if it wasn’t for the relaxing acoustic tone of the whole album. With the exception of some bongos here and there, Johnson and Anderson have a sound that blends percussion unnoticably into the background and relies heavily on voice and acoustic string instruments such as guitar, mandolin, and harp. I’m going to guess that they would probably not be good in concert, as the mood is not very “active,” so to speak; rather, the sound is more geared towards, say, sipping coffee on a quiet evening and blogging.
The excellent depth and solid sound of Johnson’s voice contrast with the limited range we hear from her, and I am hoping she will choose to explore more of what her voice can do in subsequent albums. I was *not* a fan of Anderson breathy, almost emo-esque voice, though I must admit it blended well with the feel of both “Curse” and “Thine Ownself”; however, combined with a weird doubling effect, Anderson’s vocal style directly held “Make Me Fall” back from being one of the better songs on the album. Anderson has a good feel for his music and its obvious he puts genuine feeling into what he sings, but my advice to Johnson is to find a better complement to her own voice for her next project.
Overall, Johnson and Anderson have put out a worthy first effort in professional music. Both have quite a ways to develop before reaching full potential, and I’m looking forward to hearing more music by them. Something We Both Share is available from Swansea Music, or you can check out the artists’ website.
3 Comments
Interesting review, and intriguing music. I’m liking it a lot.
If they really want easy exposure and want to make remote purchases of their album very easy, they can simply have CDBaby post their album on iTunes. That’s how I’d prefer to buy, though I probably will order a hard copy long before it goes online.
I’ve been really into some mellow music such as this (Damien Rice, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake), and it’s certainly cool to support new artists
Good review.
However, as a fellow audiophile and concert goer, some of the best concerts I have ever seen have been from some very mellow bands (Air, Sigur Ros, Broadcast – all gave supreme performances that transcended their recording efforts). But if they are expensive, skip it, there are plenty of good shows around that are cheap. But perhaps concert attendance deserves its own topic.
Just my 2 cents.
Dave, part of the Minus 15 percent Aerospace Engineers coalition
Yeah, I like a little rockin’ in my concerts, which is why I prefer their sound as background or lounging about music. I really don’t think they’re on tour anyway.
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