Review: You+Me - Rose Ave.
By Juliana Scheiderer
[RCA Records; 2014]
Rating: 7/10
Key Tracks: “Gently,” “From A Closet in Norway,” “Break the Cycle”
Rose Ave. is the surprising lovechild of Alecia Moore, more commonly known as P!nk, and Dallas Green of Alexisonfire and City & Colour. The folky, introspective album is the duo's first release as You+Me, a terribly unoriginal name for a truly brilliant idea.
Moore and Green's voices differ sharply: her vocals are deep, husky and at times almost too powerful. The powerhouse vocals P!nk is famous for become Moore's curse on Rose Ave. as she predictably overshadows her You+Me counterpart on a few tracks. Green's vocals are more soulful and moderate and take a backseat to Moore's belting on more than one occasion.
Different as they may be, Moore and Green's voices truly marry on “Gently.” This union takes the form of haunting, beautiful harmonies and lyrics about not being afraid to die. Poet Dylan Thomas may have championed fighting death through lines like, “Do not go gently into that good night,” but Moore and Green take a different approach in “Gently” with lines like “I wouldn't mind / Going gently into the night / As long as it don't hurt / I won't put up a fight.”
Predictably, for the majority of the album the pair's vocals take center stage, with sparse instrumentation on each track. A shining exception to this rule is “Break the Cycle” which opens with dramatic strings and quite literally breaks the cycle with an entirely new vocal structure.
Moore and Green wrote and collaborated together on Rose Ave. through long-distance brainstorming and DIY recording sessions before they finally met at a studio on Rose Avenue in California. According to interviews, after writing and recording the song “From a Closet in Norway” the ideas just kept flowing.
The two wrote together simply because they both love to sing and because they work so well together; Moore even commented that she hasn't meshed this well with someone vocally since she sang with her dad when she was little. Away from the pressures that come with a major release, the album has a low-key vibe and plays like an intimate conversation.
One reason the album feels so intimate is the abundance of love songs. “You and Me” opens with the line “You and me were always with each other / Before we knew the other was ever there” setting the tone for a twangy track about soulmates.
Albums like Rose Ave. rarely become more than coffeeshop background noise or amateur open mic night fodder. Fortunately for fans of the two vocalists, Rose Ave. is a truly inspired collaboration. Bitingly raw, perpetually honest lyrics coupled with the true vocal talents of two very unique voices make for an incredibly satisfying listen. In the future, Rose Ave. won't just be appreciated by City & Colour fans or P!nk fans, but by a brand new group--You+Me fans.
