Let’s Whisper, Keep a Secret

review by dave heaton

An offshoot of the Vermont indie-pop group the Smittens, Let’s Whisper does have a humble approach to pop music fitting for their band name and this 4-song, 3” Cd’s name. That doesn’t mean their songs don’t leave an impression. “California Girls” takes its chorus lyrics from the famous Beach Boys song, of course, but instead of a get-around anthem, it’s a sweet, tender ode to one person, with a guitar-and-keyboards base and details like, “I see the ocean in your skin”. There’s something forlorn about it too, echoing in the loneliness of the repeated line, “Where are you going?”

It’s not a sunny time here in general, as evidenced by “Holly in Wintertime” and “Snowy Sunday”. The latter is a brittle, solitary song, with Dana Kaplan sitting alone with a guitar, singing a song of defeat (“I can’t play this tug of war anymore / so I’ll just sit here alone on my living room floor”). The Smittens come off as the cutesiest of pop bands; this is a reminder of the serious emotions running through it all, that their music can be even more gut-wrenching than your pain-faced singer/songwriters.

Of course, they also value the release of dancing and singing along to your favorite song, and of doing what you want with your time, which is where the Sunday ode “Meet Me on the Dance Floor” comes in”. “Let’s roam the street without a plan / until our feet start giving in / it’s worth something,” they sing. Maybe that’s where the whisper/secret concept comes in too – we’ll let the world work and take itself too seriously, while we do what we wish.

{www.weepop.net}