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Let's Whisper

The Shortest Days

(WeePOP!; US: 9 Apr 2011; UK: Import)

You can’t really hold the twee tendencies of Let’s Whisper against them; writing cute, humble little songs about cute, precious little things is sort of the point. When listening to The Shortest Days, however, what is troubling is just how inert it all sounds. There are moments where Let’s Whisper is pushing the energy, adding fast-paced beats to guitars that sound like the sensitive side of The Cure, but something about the production makes it sound like every different element is happening in a different room, giving the whole album a weird disembodied feel, rather than the intimate feel that would have been more appropriate in this situation. Add to this odd feel an unfortunate, thin male vocal sound that only succeeds in pointing out just how lovely the female vocal is and an offbeat album opener that attempts to recast The Beach Boys’ “California Girls” as a twee anthem and you have an album that sounds pleasant, but whose unevenness distracts all too often. Occasionally, it works perfectly, as on the super cute waiting-room musing that is “Evy and Sarah”, but these moments won’t be enough to convince anyone that Let’s Whisper should have left the bedroom.

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Mike Schiller is a software engineer in Buffalo, NY who enjoys filling the free time he finds with media of any sort -- music, movies, and lately, video games. Stepping into the role of PopMatters Multimedia editor in 2006 after having written music and game reviews for two years previous, he has renewed his passion for gaming to levels not seen since his fondly-remembered college days of ethernet-enabled dorm rooms and all-night Goldeneye marathons. His three children unconditionally approve of their father's most recent set of obsessions.


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