I've been a big fan of singer-songwriter Michelle Branch since I first heard her song "Everywhere" on MTV years ago and I loved her album "The Spirit Room". I mistakenly believed, although I knew she had released a follow-up album to this a few years back, that she had faded from the spotlight - what I didn't realise until recently was that she was in fact involved in a collaboration with her longtime friend and backing singer Jessica Harp - a band called "The Wreckers". Once I found out about them, and read some really positive reviews of their 2006 debut release "Stand Still, Look Pretty", I did something that was quite unlike me - and purchased the cd WITHOUT HAVING HEARD ANY OF THEIR MUSIC!!! I figured if Michelle was involved, I would enjoy it. It turned out to be a pretty good gamble...
Michelle's music is quite pop-rock orientated, while Jessica's style apparently leans towards the country-folk side. So their aim was to combine both their sensibilities to produce a sound which embraced all of these genres. Like Kelly Clarkson in my previous review, Branch's record label were not particularly enthused at the idea of her taking a change in direction of her sound,
not to mention moving from a solo career to being part of a group, but it was something she felt she needed to do.
From the moment I put the cd on and heard the first song "Leave The Pieces", I was hooked. "Leave the Pieces" is a a fusion of country and pop that tells the story of a relationship where the guy just can't commit - and the girls are telling the guy to just leave and stop mucking them around ("Don't concern yourself with this mess you left for me - I can clean it up you see just as long as you're gone".) Its a song which, in spite of its country vibe you can just about imagine slotting into "The Spirit Room" as it has just enough of a rocky edge to it to fit in with Branch's solo sound (although ironically neither Branch nor Harp had any input in the writing of this particular song).
Other songs are more "country-fied" though, in particular the ones which Harp has sole song writing credit for. The first of these is "Tennessee", a slowed-down lament of lost love; and "Cigarettes", a feisty declaration of independence, where they sing "someday maybe someone will love me like I need" but "until then I'll do just fine on my own". But the most distinctly recognisable country song on this album is for me "My Oh My" - an upbeat, infectious tune about how quickly time passes, and the kind of song you just feel obliged to sing along with (my poor neighbours!!!)
The bounciness of "My Oh My" is in direct contrast to the track which follows it, the title track "Stand Still, Look Pretty". This has quickly become my favourite song on the album - it is such a simple sounding track which belies the bitterness of the lyrics. In terms of overall sound it sounds to me like a cross between "Strong Enough" by Sheryl Crow and "Try" by Nelly Furtado - the music is very bare and the focus is on the vocals, but it all adds up to a beautiful song about the trials of fame, although it could be interpreted to suit most people's lives - "I am slowly falling apart/I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start/and you might think it's easy being me/you just stand still, look pretty"...
Another impressive track is their cover of the alt-country singer Patty Griffin song "One More Girl". To be honest, I have never heard the original song, and I don't know how close it is to the original, but they sound great on it, and it is a powerful track for something that plays out so slowly.
You can imagine some of the songs on "Stand Still Look Pretty" being put to good use on an American teen drama - oh wait, they already have! Their songs have appeared in both "One Tree Hill" and "Smallville" - some may sniff at this but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I think myself that when a song is used as a soundtrack to a particular moment, whether it's a film or a tv programme, it shows how much a song's melody and lyrics can relate to a certain point in someone's life, and isn't that one of the reasons why music is so powerful? Excuse me, didn't mean to get all deep there!
Both Branch and Harp have great voices, and more than one review I have seen has commented on how similar their voices actually sound - at times it is impossible to discern which one is doing the singing. They both also accompany themselves on guitar, which is always refreshing in a world full of lip-synching wannabes who can't even write their own tunes, but its their harmonies which are the most appealing - their voices just blend so beautifully together (something I always notice especially acutely when I'm listening to them on my Walkman), particularly on songs like "One More Girl" and "My Oh My".
Would I say this album is particularly "country" though? Like I said, there are a few songs which have a definite country vibe to it, but if you removed the banjo-type accompaniment and removed the slight country twang they seem to have at times affected in their voices, you are left with . . . well, another Michelle Branch album! Is that bad? Not remotely. But it is kind of false advertising at the same time!
So would I recommend "Stand Still Look Pretty"? Without a doubt. If you are a Michelle Branch fan, it is basically like you are getting two of her for the price of one. The songs are catchy, even the slow ones, and it is the kind of album where you can identify with the lyrics and want to get to know the songs better after just one listen. It's a great album and I don't regret buying it without knowing any of the tunes first. Perhaps I should do that more often... :-) BUY "STAND STILL LOOK PRETTY" FROM...
Amazon - £12.48 (or from £6.49 used and new)
CD WOW - £9.99
HMV.co.uk - £9.99
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Excellent review - I also bought this album on spec after acquiring Michelle Branch's "Hotel Paper" and "The Spirit Room". Just had The Wreckers' "Live From New York" CD delivered this morning in the post.... great stuff! :)
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