William Tell – You Can Hold Me Down

William Tell – You Can Hold Me Down / 2007 Universal / 10 Tracks / http://www.williamtell.com / http://www.universal.com / Reviewed 07 May 2007

Without getting the promo sheet about William Tell, I would have had no idea that ey was the backing vocalist for Something Corporate. The cover on this album give individuals no idea; one just sees a nondescript person standing there with a guitar in eir hand. “Jeannie” is the first track on the disc, and it provides a rock-based bit of pop that will remind listeners of Chris Isaak or a more bluesy version of Weezer. There is a heavy early nineties influence to this opening track, and while it is catchy, it does not seem as if William Tell is really speaking to 2007 as much as ey should to succeed. “Slipping Under” is the second track, and this continues the same slightly-older style. The songs are all pretty catchy, but there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between Tell and the current period; “Slipping Under” moves a slight bit closer to the current period with the chorus, but even then, it still is lacking something.

There seems to be an evolution present during the first two tracks on the disc, but the slower strains of “Trouble” seems to mark a resumption of the same, somewhat-dated styles of “Jeannie”. The chorus tries to exist in the nineties and the current, but just cannot reach the current era as well as it should. “Fairfax” is the first track that sounds as if it could bring Tell back to the mainstream, as it seems to build off of Dexy Midnight Runners songs for primary influences. Instead of being ironic and energetic in the way that acts like HelloGoodbye have, Tell still maintains the “straight man” relationship to the instrumentation. This derails any success that Tell could mark down for this track, and brings eir back to the drawing board for “Like You, Only Sweeter”.

“Like You, Only Sweeter” finds a chink in the cumulative armor of popular music, falling into a Counting Crows / Matchbox 20 / Verve type of sound. The track will succeed because of its timeless sound, and this seems to be where Tell needs to go more often on subsequent albums to succeed. The disc shows that Tell has the talent to create interesting songs, but it also shows that Tell needs to go forth and really work to make eir music more appreciable by fans listening in 2007. Keep listening in to the work of Tell; I believe there will be improvement.

Top Tracks: Like You Only Sweeter, Maybe Tonight

Rating: 4.5/10

[JMcQ]