Yael Meyer – Heartbeat EP
Happy Tree Music
Score: 6.2
Born in Chile and residing in Los Angeles, Yael Meyer’s builds upon 2004′s positively received Common Ground with an EP that introduces a more organic sound without completely shedding the electronic sprinkles of her earlier work. Musically, the EP shares much in common with The Postal Service, in particular their ever-popular ‘Such Great Heights’, as precise rhythm tracks hold steady under acoustic guitars and electronic touches. ‘Shed The Fear’ and ‘Heartbeat’ bloom from this architecture and sound like perfect mixtape selections for the dorm rooms this semester. An accomplished musician (guitar, bass guitar, percussion, accordion, glockenspiel, keyboards, piano, and melodica to name a few), Meyer showcases her ukulele skills on ‘Favorite Two’, which struggles with being too full of whimsy in a world where “rainy days are also nice”. The tone of the album is unwaveringly positive with a yearning for simple times shared between special people. In this regard, the comparisons to Jack Johnson’s laid back island observations become clear. On ‘Heartbeat’, she states the somewhat obvious: “Days are getting shorter/life is speeding up”, and encourages everyone to follow their own hearts at their own pace. It’s a pleasant reminder delivered from a beautiful voice on an album that hits the mark for production but then it’s gone. The undeniable sweetness of ‘I Wonder How’ sticks in the mind longer and sounds perfectly tailored for an iPod commercial; the kind of tune that you hear in the background and search out on music blogs. Come to think of it, ‘Such Great Heights’ by The Postal Service also had that quality and made the transition to television advertising. On Heartbeat, Meyer settles into a style that suits her various talents and offers up a few slices of musical sunshine that fearlessly seek to melt even the most jaded ears.
Jason Lent