The Pierces
You & I
Release Date: Nov 30, 2010
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Record label: Universal Music
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: You & I by The Pierces
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
The inexorable rise of soft rock continues apace with the fourth album from American sisters Catherine and Allison Pierce. The odd little edges of their folk-pop have been smoothed off in the transition to a major label, surfacing only occasionally – as on Love You More, which somehow mixes backwoods gothic with an expensive-sounding studio sheen without sounding forced – but they don't seem to have suffered from the process. That's because of the uniformly high quality of the songwriting: You & I is packed with potential Radio 2 staples – the 60s-inflected Glorious, the opening pair of You'll Be Mine and It Will Not Be Forgotten.
Based on rating 3.5/5
Showcasing a real gift for note-perfect pop hooks and a deliciously warped POV, 2007’s extraordinary Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge rightfully should have been a breakthrough for the Pierces. That it wasn’t led sisters Catherine and Allison Pierce to make a bald-faced bid for mass appeal by commissioning Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman, who knows a thing or two about broad commercial success, to produce their follow-up, You & I. Barryman slathers the Pierces’ robust melodies and intricately layered vocal harmonies in a slick studio polish that sounds perfectly tailored for adult-pop radio.
Based on rating 5/10
Currently, in the midst of a prime spot as Coldplay’s West Coast opening act, the star power of sisters’ Allison and Catherine Pierce seems to be taking an upward swing. In a career that began back in 2000, with a low-key collection of pleasantly appealing coffee house folksongs, the duo’s musical palette has expanded into a more forceful and radio-friendly mélange, thus now popping up frequently on primetime dramas and television commercials. The pairing with Coldplay is an appropriate one as the Pierces’ musical stylings correspond nicely to Chris Martin & Co.
Opinion: Excellent
Fourth album from Alabama sisters sounds like their commercial breakthrough. Paul Lester 2011 There was a time when adroitly crafted, adult-oriented mid-tempo soft rock albums comprising bittersweet reflections on relationships turned sour pretty much defined the mainstream, notably on the back of Fleetwood Mac’s staggering late-70s success. You could argue that Adele has made the genre viable once more, but she comes from a rather different tradition.