Album Review: The Waifs – Beautiful You
2 min read
Australian folk/rock trio The Waifs have been around since 1992, and their hard work finally paid off with their fourth album Up All Night winning the group four ARIA awards, and spawned what is probably their most memorable single, London Still. We can’t forget to mention them being the support for Bob Dylan in Australia and North America during his 2003 world tour: what an achievement! The Waifs are back with their latest album Beautiful You, their first release since Temptation in 2011, but this time the writing process was challenging; the group wrote the album as a collective, straying from their usual formula of writing separately. It’s exciting to delve into the next chapter of the group’s career, so let’s have a look!
You can expect to hear the trio’s renowned smooth folky vibes throughout the release, plus their trademark lead vocal swaps between sisters Donna and Vikki, and of course Josh; so the group you know and love are still running with the sound that we first fell in love with. Title track Beautiful You is wonderful melodically and harmonically, if The Waifs could only be good at just one thing it’s getting the mood/tone right, making their releases emotive listening experiences. Tracks like 6000 Miles and When A Man Gets Down keep you relaxed and feeling easy, but you’ve also got more upbeat tracks such as Blindly Believing and February to keep you hooked and entertained. A more deeper and darker sound was intended for Rowena And Wallace, showing the group’s diversity and ability to get grittier, which also shows in the intense Born To Love. While the album isn’t packed full of outstanding surprises, you are guaranteed another top notch release by The Waifs.
Forever a festival crowd favourite and one of Australia’s treasured folk/rock outfits, you cannot simply fault The Waifs on Beautiful You. The group have stayed true to their sound, it would have been a shame to lose the original charm that made us fall in love with the trio; if anything, their approach to writing this album together rather than separately may have brought them closer together, thus upholding their reputation for being some of folk music’s finest writers. Beautiful You doesn’t disappoint easily, and if you are already a die hard fan of the group your ear drums will find satisfaction whilst you sit back and take in the new tunes.
