Vanguard
Singer/songwriter Garrison Starr is on her fourth album, but this time it’s all about her life; and it’s all emotional. The album The Sound of You and Me is a collection of introspective folk songs mixed with pop and country beats.
Although it brings in the spunk of pop beats, Starr doesn’t stray too far from her country roots.
The Sound of You and Me has a strong beginning with songs like Pendulum, Let Me In, and Sing It Like A Victim setting high expectations for the album, but it quickly degrades towards the middle and end of the album leaving you disappointed.
There is one exception to this degradation — the song No Mans Land. This song brings back the beat and rhythm that is found on the first few tracks.
In No Mans Land Starr presents a great melody, thought provoking lyrics and a voice soft and smooth that tops it all off.
The first song on the album, Pendulum, has poetic lyrics and a soothing beat. The song, like most of the songs she composed, reflects Starr’s love — a lost love. Pendulum sets the overall tone to the rest of the album, a boundless look into Starr’s emotions.
Let Me In, Starr’s strongest track, is another obvious personal dip into Starr’s love life, but it presents a more upbeat melody than Pendulum. The song reflects the title of the album, The Sound of You and Me, with its lyrics — “This is the air we breathe/ this is the sound of you and me.” Let Me In is sure to get anyone’s nerves calm and singing along in no time.
The album finishes with a soft, slower pace, which proves the “slow songs” are not Starr’s strong suit.
We Were Just Boys & Girls is slow and full of drawn out lyrics, that would send anyone’s finger reaching for the next button. Although the beat is nicely done, it is immediately destroyed with the whines and shrills of Starr’s voice that is less than pretty. This might be a ploy for an original sound, but the yelping only worked for Janis Joplin.
The Sound of You and Me is a deep look into a life of a country/folk singer that proves when it comes to music real life experiences are about 50/50 — sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t.