Single Review: You+Me – ‘You and Me’
2 min read2014 is a pretty great time to be alive. It’s a time when a pop superstar and a post-hardcore-turned-country-folk singer can come together in literal harmony and it’s something to be celebrated. Just 8 short years ago, Alecia Moore (who you may know as the embodiment of empowerment and global phenomenon P!nk) was singing decrying scrubby dudes to evenings with nothing but U + Ur Hand to stadiums full of devotees. Meanwhile, Dallas Green was providing melodic hooks for arguably the heaviest music ever to come out of Ontario as co-frontman of Alexisonfire. My how times have changed…
The interim saw Moore continue her domination of the charts with a consistency few others will ever hope to match and Green quietly exit Alexisonfire to focus on his more heartfelt/acoustic side as City and Colour. The somewhat unlikely pair has since joined forces under the name You+Me and their eponymous debut single You and Me goes to show that there’s a much deeper connection at play than the skin on their famously tattooed bodies.
From the tentative opening fingerpicking of the first release from their forthcoming LP Rose Ave., it’s pretty clear that the time Dallas spent in Nashville recording The Hurry and the Harm (the most recent City and Colour record) had a pretty profound effect. The gorgeous fragility that pervades You and Me is underscored by little more than swooning pedal steel and cautiously brushed snare and their two distinct voices blend so perfectly that even they themselves must’ve been surprised with the result.
With Rose Ave. slated for release next month, You and Me (the song) proves that You+Me (the band) is less a Dr. Frankenstein experiment in market crossover by the heads at RCA and more a pure connection between two established artists that was well and truly worth exploring.