The Weepies: Be My Thrill

The Weepies: Be My Thrill
When I think of bands from the greater Boston area I think of Pixies, Dropkick Murphys, and hell even Aerosmith but never The Weepies. With nearly a decade of well craft indie folk pop under their belt and their songs being used in commercials for Old Navy and J.C. Penney and in episodes of How I Met Your Mother and House, The Weepies still do not have the name recognition to put them in the elite bands of Boston list. The duo strives to make that list with their fourth record, Be My Thrill.
The Weepies have basically been ghosts since releasing 2008’s Hideaway. The band did no touring for the record and instead immediately began work on their next album. As is usually the story, the group wrote upwards of 70 songs and pared them down to the absolutely best 14 songs for Be My Thrill.
The craftsmanship shows on the album. “Be My Honeypie” is the type of sickeningly sweet “we’re in love” song that will make single people throw up a little in their mouths but the track has a twee pop element that makes it irresistibly catchy if not too overtly optimistic. Equally sweet is “Not a Lullaby” but the track is much more subdued than “Be My Honeypie”. Unfortunately that makes it harder to take. The track ends up being mired in mediocrity.
The album luckily does not only feature love songs. “How Do You Get High?” is one of the most enjoyable tunes on the album. The song is energetic indie pop tune with very little of the folk style that have made the Feelies famous. While abandoning their signature style might seem like a bad idea, the song works so well that it is hardly an issue.
While I would be remiss to claim that the plethora of love songs did not take some toll on listening, the album does present some well crafted tracks. The bubbliness of the truly joyous songs are almost so contagious that when the group chooses to slow down the pace it feels like a let down. It is the catch 22 of writing pop music.
Rating: 6.8/10
MP3: The Weepies “How Do You Get High?”
Buy: iTunes

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