Tasty Folk Pop Tunes

If ever there was an album cover that perfectly matched the tone of the music inside, it’d be the deep blue of The Weepies’ Hideaway. The sea-meets-sky images of a whale swimming below a starry night sky evoke both the flowing and wavelike musical rhythms and the celestial spirit of the lyrics that make this folk pop album so unique.The talent behind these images, rhythms, and lyrics is Deb Talan and Steve Tannen, a happily married California-based couple with a knack for creative songwriting and distinctive melodies. Under the deceptively melancholic name of The Weepies, Talan and Tannen produce light, rhapsodic songs that can only be considered carefree and upbeat, even at their darkest.

Hideaway opens with “Can’t Go Back Now,” a solid introduction to the duo’s trademark harmonies and repetitive rhythms. “Orbiting” takes listeners to a more ethereal place, with both the song’s sound and lyrics evoking celestial travel as Talen sings “I’m out of your range / Now it’s kind of strange / How we change orbit in our lives” in a blissful manner. Among the albums darker tracks are “Little Bird” and “How You Survived the War,” which despite having a more ominous tone still demonstrate The Weepies’ signature rolling melodies and lyrical wit.

Other tracks worth noting are the title track and “Takes So Long,” two catchy acoustic bass-driven songs. Hideaway closes with a celebration of life and happiness in the form of “All This Beauty,” in which The Weepies sing “Let me assure you, friend / Every day is ice cream and chocolate cake.” And listeners can rest assured that this is true, especially if this album is providing the day’s soundtrack.