In his poem ‘Peace is Milk’, Adrian Mitchell wrote : “The world is falling to pieces, but some of the pieces taste good.” Somehow, I feel that this is a sentiment that would be warmly embraced by this singer-songwriter duo from Heidelberg, Germany and Toronto.
There’s no doubting the prettiness of the duet vocal harmonies on their sophomore release. So much so that you might overlook the fact that they are not just singing of the beauty of nature and the sweetness of life. They are actually bemoaning the excesses of capitalism, the (mis)information overload and a growing lack of compassion for one another.
In the opening track (Clowns Everywhere) they point to “Buildings growing tall beneath our shrinking heads” and Same Train criticises the relentless pursuit of money for its own end while dreams get left behind.
Gripes like these are softened by the tunefulness of the melodies. This is easy listening with an edge even though, as with their debut album (Daydreamers), the tweeness factor is fairly high. Here, images of rainbows and little birds are used to symbolise the path we should be taking.
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At its best though, one senses a knowing faux-naivety is at work. The couple know full well that the sentiment expressed on Childhood Dream that ”We’re living life in paradise” is a far cry from reality. Drawing clearly defined lines between good and evil on Struggling with the Yin-Yang works well by striking a note of childlike simplicity in the manner of a satirical tune by Malvina Reynolds.
Overall the charm factor and underlying optimism wins the day. Meanwhile, back in the real world ………
Listen to ‘Indistinct Chatter’ at Bandcamp
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