The Weepies

Two years after their first full-length album, Say I Am You, hit airwaves, folk-pop darlings The Weepies return with their sublime follow-up, Hideaway. Born of the exhaustion that follows a major promotional tour, Hideaway is 14 tracks of supposedly "darker" material. The now-married husband and wife duo of Steve Tannen and Deb Talen are the first to admit they both felt "empty" before beginning work on the new record. So, for the fans of the shimmering love letter-y sentiments on Say I Am You, this can be a scary notion. Swirling yellow sundresses and long days at the beach, lazy walks through autumn leaves and late-night cuddling—these blissful images are the very reasons why listeners love The Weepies. And now they've gone and got themselves a lil' bitter and burnt out? Say it ain't so!

It ain't so.

Sure, there are a few introspective and emotional clouds ("Lighting Candles") in this Hideaway sky, but overall the record marks a breezy, fresh return for the pair. Their love and optimism amidst strummed guitars and wistful refrains is still very much intact here, especially on the jaunty lead single "Hideaway." Despite the fact that the album's topic du jour—lyrically—eschews that big four-letter word, the sound is still inherently Weepies and enough to supply mass quantities of butterflies. On the gorgeous standout track "Antarctica," a tune about leaving your life behind, there's a generous helping of positive energy—and a chorus worth humming all day long; meanwhile, the achingly pretty "Just Blue" makes you feel anything but, even as Talen laments, "I'm missing you/And there's not a thing to do/I'm blue/Just blue." Her child-like voice goes down like a refreshing glass of lemonade throughout, whether she's singing about break-ups on "All Good Things" (one of the five songs they helped pen for Mandy Moore's Wild Hope or just loving life on "All This Beauty."

Jump in the car, roll down the windows and head for the country or— even better— the beach. This is the dreamer's soundtrack to spring and the coming summer, another beautiful batch of mostly sunny tracks that deftly prove: Rain or shine, The Weepies' life is pretty damn good.

—Matthew Allard
04.22.08

"Weepies" used to be a derogatory term, a synonym for chick flicks, movies that -- at least in the masculine mind -- traded on cheap sentiment to get a tearful reaction. It's a term the songwriting duo known as the Weepies -- Deb Talan and Steve Tannen -- want to reinvent. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and they're not ashamed of it. Their music is poignant without being sappy, built on the foundation of their fluid acoustic guitar work and Talan's understated vocals. There are bass, drums, and keyboards accents, but they play backup to Talan's poignant lead vocals and Tannen's euphoric harmonies. On this, the Weepies' third album, the duo is bluer and deeper than before. The songs deal with lost or unattainable love, loss of innocence, and general romantic disillusionment. "Antarctica" is typical, a gentle song about numbing out your feeling with booze, escaping into a Never Never Land where all is white, cold, and blank. Talan's warm vocal and the track's uptempo rhythm play off neatly against the song's bleak outlook. "How You Survived the War" is another tale of emotional collapse, likening lost love to a lost battle. This time the ripping rainy-day guitars complement the sadness of the lyric and Talan sounds positively, er, weepie. Most of the tunes are variations on the same theme, but the melodies are so sparkling and the singing so heartfelt that it's hard to get bummed out. Even the saddest tunes offer hope with their luminous vocals and affecting melodies. But all is not totally lost. Tannen sings lead on "Can't Go Back Now," a song that laments the loss of childhood innocence while celebrating the freedom of being an adult making your way through the world with the support of a lover who always walks beside you. "All This Beauty" closes the album; it's a big, bright love song that commemorates life's small, perfect moments. Sunshine, a floating feather, chocolate cake, and a good Weepie song all create moments so luminous you have to shut your eyes to keep from being blinded by the light. ~ j. poet, All Music Guide