One of the reasons why Hello Love is so much more positive is that it feels as though the band have cast off expectations entirely, and decided to focus on writing new songs that follow their compositional instincts, as well as picking two covers (amongst others) which reflect their own highbrow / playful tastes and a determination to break genre walls at the same time as flaunting their righteous cultural relativism. Hello Love is perhaps best viewed as the album The Be Good Tanyas just made because they could- it feels like a rediscovery of their love for what they do, and a melding of their shiny pop instincts with their dark heart.
Review:
British Columbia's Be Good Tanyas took their bluesy, north country folk
to some fairly dark places on 2003's Chinatown, and while some of those shadows
may have wandered into the studio during the recording of their third
full-length collection Hello Love, the homespun Canadian trio seem bent on
pulling the blinds up this time around and letting the world sneak back in.
Frazey Ford, Samantha Parton and Trish Klein harmonize like opposing weather
systems, they've all got the same goods but there's a little bit of pushback
going on that helps keep things dangerous. For the most part, the ladies have
chosen not to stray too far from their plainclothes rootsy sound, and while that
may disappoint some fans, there's enough quality stuff here to light a fire in
every train yard oil drum from Vancouver to Halifax. Hello Love works best when
the whole gang pipes in, and a choice cover of Neil Young's “For the
Turnstiles” delivers that effect in earnest. Tight, bluesy harmonies that are
as spooky as they are lovely paint a picture of utter desolation that sounds as
good turned up real damn loud as it does crackling through an old Victrola.
Other covers, like fellow Canadian folkie Sean Hayes' “A Thousand Tiny
Pieces,” Mississippi John Hurt's “Nobody Cares for Me,” and a rendition of
the old gospel number “What Are They Doing in Heaven Today” resonate as
well, but a misplaced version of Prince's “When Doves Cry” sticks out like a
purple barn.
All Music Guide – James Christopher Monger