Slow Club - Yeah So
Moshi Moshi/Popfrenzy/Inertia
By Andrew P Street
Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor write smart, cute songs about relationships going terribly, terribly wrong – and they do so with charm and verve. Yeah So has a loose, let's-make-the-album-right-here vibe, helped by the limited use of instrumentation. In fact, the opening 'When I Go' has nothing but a single acoustic guitar supporting their harmonising vocals. 'It Doesn't Have to Be Beautiful' rollicks along on a lively country shuffle and bass and drums kick in on 'Giving Up on Love', making the duo sound like the perky younger siblings of The Raveonettes, but for the most part it's a stripped-down affair in the country-folk mould.
Watson takes lead on the simple piano ballad 'There Is No Good Way to Say I'm Leaving You', while Taylor's near solo vocal 'Sorry about the Doom' shows the purity of her voice – even if the driving 'Our Most Brilliant Friends' contains the most extraordinarily blatant steal of Springsteen's 'Dancing in the Dark' imaginable. If there's ever a video clip made for it, it'd better feature them pulling Courtney Cox-Arquette out of the front row.
This version of the album ends on a joyful note with the addition the massed vocals of Vodafone-commercial-approved bonus track 'Let's Fall Back in Love', but if your heart has been given a good kicking recently, Yeah So could easily be the sympathetic best friend you're looking for.
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