If there is one thing that you should take away from sophomore album from the Chapin Sisters is that even beautiful blond girls have trouble with love.
Two offers a plate of 10 tracks hell-bent on finding a soulmate or even solace in having someone to share the bed with. The opening lines from “Birds in My Garden” probably summarizes the album best, “why do I keep trying at romance?/I am hopeless/I’ll never succeed/every guy I try to talk to/makes me feel like I’m crazy.
You won’t see the Chapin Sisters on MTV, and that’s probably a good thing. Their music is well crafted with intense lyrics, traumatizing instrumentals, and all that is second nature to their insane harmonies that just makes you wonder how long they practice at it. The sister duo, Abigail and Lily Chapin, have put together a solid album after their debut, Lake Bottom. It’s not much of a step from their first album but it’s who they are, a talented band with heavy folk roots, who may have been born in the wrong era.
Two still has their folk elements that they’re known for but they also tap into a little bit of jazz as well as some country this time around. “Paradise” stood out to me as one of the best tracks on the second record, they throw their harmonies behind some solid piano playing a la Norah Jones, just a little stronger vocally. They stick to the theme of this record with lyrics like “no other drug will do/I know it’s true/I’m so much better off with you.” It’s songs like this that makes you think Two may not be so much about their second record coming out but having that second chance we all want so bad after we screw up in a relationship. This just a beautiful song with nothing but keys and the tambourine.
Another good song on the LP is “Roses in Winter.” They throw away the acoustic guitar on this one and break out the electric as well as some drums too. This song beckons the old good intentions gone wrong scenario that we’ve all come across. “How did I get here /when all I wanted was roses in winter.” If only we could have everything we wanted right? But this isn’t about being a hopeless romantic, it’s about facing reality and moving on, a truth we all have a hard time facing.
On the final track of the record, “Trouble,” they tap into their country roots, break out the banjo and rap (not in the literal sense) about hard times. The record ends as it begins in “Sweet Light,” powerful harmonies that just make you say wow!
If these girls were forced to have their voices taken away from them, something tells me they’d still be involved in the music due to their innate abilities of song writing and creating vivid images on their records.
Record due out September 14
Album Cover Art Credit:Claire Nereim
