The You

For the Masses

(Pure Tone)

Record Review by Amber Henson

The You have yet to figure out what sort of band they want to be.  As far as I can tell, they want to sound somewhat like Belle and Sebastian, but I’m only making that assumption because that’s what their song “Lindsey Schwartz” is reminiscent of, and that’s the song on the album they recorded most recently.  You see, there’s a note on the inside cover of the album book that says, “This record has been assembled from various sessions spanning the last few years.  Play with bass and treble as you see fit.”  And, indeed, after the lyrics for the songs, there’s a date and a place that tells you when and where it was recorded, and who played what instrument.

You can use this to predict how the songs sound.  They started in 2003, and these early songs were composed entirely by lead singer Josh Verbanets.  Guitars, bass, sometimes drums.  In these songs there’s a singer/songwriter sound happening, reminiscent of Matt Costa or Bright Eyes.  And you can tell that it’s just him; there’s no sound of collaborative effort, just his pleasant voice being backed up.

Then, in track four, we time travel to 2005 and all of a sudden the album is very different, like The Shins, but more hardcore, and with a country twang.  Back to 2004 for track six, “End of an Era,” and after an intro that sounds like The Stone Roses, we have that Belle and Sebastian sound I mentioned earlier.  This is where they’re the most successful in their sound.  They’ve got the lo-fi indie rock formula down perfectly.

But they don’t stick to it, and before the album ends, we’ll visit all those genres again.  The album is good, but eclectic and disjointed.  It’s a grab bag CD.  Luckily, we live in an era where no one really listens to an entire album anyway.  You buy the CD, listen to it a few times, pick what you like, import those songs into your computer, and there you go, you’ve got four or five great songs for your iPod.