You and Yourn: It Would Make Things Worse

On It Would Make Things Worse, You and Yourn play mostly soft and acoustic indie folk, but the central drive of the album is a sense of resistance. Married couple Heather and Nic Dillon speak from a position of engagement, whether against contemporary economic culture (“Commercial Paper”) or the busyness we get caught up in (“Great Lakes”). The pair claw most immediately against the complacency of every day life, not exactly in the fight against quiet desperation that has become cliche, but in a personal opposition to complacency and conformity. In “Double Knots”, the duo’s harmonies admit, “Thought to rebel but found no benefit / So I’ve made peace with it / I’ve done ordinary well”. Of course, that’s no counterrevolutionary anthem but a bit of misdirection. The life proposed on this album is one that’s slow and considered, restlessly in search of something more. With this awareness comes the sense of accidents and regrets (especially on “Guillotine”), but that’s turned from weight into wisdom, as on the closing offer of reasonable hope, “I Can Wait This Out”. It’s a patient album that rewards a patient listen.