New Music: You+Me

By Sonny Sachdeva, October 23 2014 —

From Canadian folk-hero Dallas Green and longtime pop-icon P!nk (Alecia Moore) comes the hauntingly beautiful rose ave., the result of the duo’s surprising new project, You+Me.

Overflowing with feathery harmonies that wind in and out of calm acoustic instrumentals, the album’s strength lies in the artists’ powerful, angelic voices.

Rose ave., written and recorded in eight days, serves as a departure from Moore and Green’s artistic roots. It’s not as hook-centric as Moore’s pop catalog, nor is it as emotionally desperate as Green’s solo work. Rose ave. is sombre and reflective in a way that spills out effortlessly and organically. The album is not aggressive or overpowering yet it holds a hypnotizing calmness that draws you in.

“Gently” is one of the best of the crop, creating a blissful atmosphere as the two sing, “As the shadows from the trees dance on the window pane, here I lie waiting once again, longing for a dream that may never come, until I’m done.”

The swaying rhythm and melancholic melodies suggest the album is best enjoyed alone, in the calm and quiet of one’s own thoughts, giving it the freedom to seep in, slowly and steadily.

In “Second Guess,” the two croon, “I don’t know where to go from here. Something still lingers low — it’s weighing me down,” an emblematic statement of the album as a whole.

Rose ave. is not decisive. It wanders. It lingers low, underneath the surface, allowing you to come along and do with it what you wish.