Album review: The Wreckers - Stand Still, Look Pretty

The Wreckers
Stand Still, Look Pretty
US release 30th May 2006 (Currently available online on import in the UK)
(Maverick/Warner Nashville)



The Wreckers is the country-esque side-project of Grammy winning singer-songwriter/guitarist Michelle Branch, who’s teamed up with Nashville-born musician and friend Jessica Harp. Branch experienced enormous success following the release of her multi-platinum debut The Spirit Room in 2001, including an internationally successful single with Santana, ‘The Game of Love’. Now embracing the country leanings of Harp, Stand Still, Look Pretty is the band’s debut album and Harp’s debut major release. Having already appeared on One Tree Hill, Leno, the Country Music Awards and toured with Gavin De Graw and Tyler Hilton, The Wreckers are now touring the US with the hugely successful country-rock band Rascal Flatts. Their refreshing sound is much more alt.country than Branch’s solo work and the album is set to explode.

Opening track and debut single ‘Leave The Pieces’ is a country rock classic, inherently catchy and brilliantly produced. ‘Way Back Home’ is wonderfully rootsy, incredibly simple and instantly memorable - a brilliant example of the girls’ ability to team country stylings with a refreshing youthfulness that will ensure broad cult and commercial success. Upbeat country stomper ‘My Oh My’ is similarly endearing, whilst Harp-led ‘Cigarettes’ combines classic country-styled lyrics with a well-crafted melody.

The sweet sentiment of ‘Tennessee’, written by Harp, proves that she brings more to the duo than a pretty face. Arguably the best track on the album, influences of Patti Griffin and Ryan Adams are palpable in what emerges as a beautifully wistful yet impassioned alt. country love song. ‘The Good Kind’ is another beauty, with a soaring chorus and catchy, simplistic verses and sees Branch and Harp share lead vocals.

Fan favourite ‘Lay Me Down’ is undoubtedly a future single. An ultimate country-rock ballad, this was one of the first songs penned by the duo over three years ago. Originally intended for Branch’s sophomore album Hotel Paper, it has deservedly been re-recorded with shared lead vocals and a hauntingly countrified production.

Title track ‘Stand Still, Look Pretty’ is Branch’s best offering, with its poignant lyrics, soaring melodies and dark production details, whereas ‘Rain’ is more reminiscent of Branch’s pre-Wreckers days and is the album’s weakest track. Less ‘country’ than pop-rock, it’s still a great tune and is immediately followed the undeniably brilliant ‘Crazy People’. Perfectly exhibiting the duo’s dry wit and irony, the song explains how only bank robbers and killers fall in love with them through a Bonnie and Clyde red neck tale, presented in a classic country format with killer vocals and breathtaking harmonies.

‘One More Girl’ is the band’s most adventurous offering and by experimenting with a variation on the usual verse-chorus-bridge structure, points to the girls’ genuine musical talents and potential longevity.

As ‘Cigarettes’ self-deprecatingly references the tendency of country songs to sing about broken hearts and cheating lovers, the album embraces this sentiment whilst tearing away any sense of falsity and contrivance sadly evident in much of the new music emerging from Nashville. Throughout, scenes of driving down Southern highways, open planes and dirt roads, leaving good-for-nothing lovers behind along the way evoke palpable images that are instantly memorable.

This album will appeal to pretty much everyone. Whether you love country, pop, rock or alternative, it has the basic principals that determine success and durability: outstanding lyrics, catchy yet uncontrived melodies and yes, okay, they’re both hot. The band currently have no plans to head over to the UK/Europe, so get on over to Amazon.co.uk and buy this PHENOMENAL album and let the girls know our appreciation and respect for what is easily the best new album of 2006.

Crazy People

Lay Me Down

Way Back Home

Tennessee