Monday, April 28, 2008

Sitting by the Sea Shore Soaking up the Summer Breeze


Hello...x - Tristan Prettyman

Being what may have been one of about only a hundred people who picked up the debut album from Tristan Prettyman, I found a breezy summertime disk that was a great listen as long as the weather was as sunny of what was found on the album. And since sadly not many checked out her first album, her first single off the follow up Hello…x follows the template created for that first album down to the chorus repeating the title three time, this time being Madly instead of Love, Love, Love. But Madly isn’t too derivative thanks to some well placed hand claps and a sing along chorus that should replace Bubbly in the overplayed category on the radio sometime soon.

But it is elsewhere on the album where her growth shines through. The album does starts out with the sunny California fireside bounce of Hello and Echo, but it quickly takes a big turn to the Deep South with the on the front porch blues of California Girl that morphs when an eclectic guitar takes the song somewhere else near the end. Also fitting the blues genre is Just a Little Bit which ends with Tristan singing over a bunch of guys hoping to bring her down to her knees. Handshake could have had the most infectious bassline of the year if it weren’t for Death Cab for Cutie’s I Will Possess Your Heart and can have even the most uncoordinated guys try to break out a dance move or two.

The high point of Hello…x is War Out of Peace a driving song which that may be best heard when your are driving yourself along a country road with the windows rolled down with nothing sounding you but rows of corn on a nice summer day. Then there is Don’t Work Yourself Up, a soft song that slowly evolves into a wall of sound with multiple vocals overlapping to great effect. So be sure to pick up Hello…x this summer when you are heading down to the beach or just the local swimming pool as it will get you ready for the season.

Song to Download - War Out of Peace

Hello…x gets a Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE] on my Terror Alert Scale.



2 comments:

  1. Howdy! I'm a friend of Jo's. I am one of the 100 people who bought this CD. And I love it!! Definitely a summer CD. I actually heard her sometime last year open for Guster. She's great live.

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  2. I try to get family and friends to listen to her but whenever I do I get a bunch of "huh's" and who's". Hopefully she gets more fans from this album. And I'll have to look out for her the next time she is in town.

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