The Weepies - Hideaway

On the cover of The Weepies’ last album, Say I Am You, were two little white songbirds gazing at each other. The husband-wife duo’s first record, Happiness, had a line drawing of salt and pepper shakers on the cover. Most of the songs on the albums fit the art--cute folk-pop ditties like “Gotta Have You,” Take it from Me” and “All That I Want” embraced that early honeymoon stage of relationship bliss.

Since Say I Am You came out in 2006, Deb Talan and Steve Tannen have been busy--touring behind an unexpectedly successful album, plugging their pleasant tunes onto TV shows and Old Navy or JC Penney commercials, and having a baby. Apparently all these life changes have taken a toll on the couple.

The cover of The Weepies’ newest, Hideaway, shows a lone whale hiding from stars beneath the ocean. And those birds? They’re not quite the same. In “Little Bird,” Talan asks her feathered friend to “Brush your gray wings on my head/Say what you said, say it again/They tell me I’m crazy/But you told me I’m golden.” The minor, descending guitar riff, mournful strings, subtle ambient noises and layered vocals add some gravity to the matter.

It’s not too surprising that this record would be more somber. After all, there’s only one direction to go after titling a debut album Happiness. Still, this is only in comparison to The Weepies’ previous material. There’s nothing edgy here, and even the forlorn songs sound pretty amid the milky production and voices perfectly suited for the inventive harmonies. Talan, who’s a little chipmunky, takes the lead on most songs, and Tannen chimes in often to fill out the simpatico sound.

A review in Paste a couple of years ago described Say I Am You as “Sunday-morning songs for the coffee-and-New York Times set,” and that still holds true. In some ways, Hideaway is well-suited as a background album. It doesn’t require any active listening as the pop melodies come and go smoothly and sweetly. If you’re not into passive listening, that can be one of the Weepies’ few faults (along with going a bit overboard on background vocal tracks).

But unlike most palatable pop, Hideaway (and the rest of The Weepies’ catalog) doesn’t go stale with repetition. (Trust me; my wife plays them constantly.) Songs like “Antarctica” and the title track will likely burrow themselves into your brain for days. Unlike the hopeful “Stars” off the last album, “Hideaway” is a glass-half-empty take on the celestial bodies: “Even the stars sometimes fade to gray/Even the stars hideaway.” “Antarctica” continues the theme of isolation as Talan refers to the continent as “my only living relative.” And yet, both songs are still whimsical enough to soundtrack a bright spring day, despite the morose lyrical overtones.

The album ends on a more uplifting note with “All This Beauty.” The song revels in beauty so intense “you might have to close your eyes and slowly open wide,” proving that there’s light behind everything The Weepies do. In fact, even that whale on the cover--the one lingering alone in a sea of blue--has a smile on his face.

Hideaway is out now on Nettwerk.

mp3: The Weepies - Hideaway