The Be Good Tanyas Issue #30

Hello Love (Nettwerk)

By Marisa Torrieri
Published: December 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

A great roots resurgence is in its prime, with bands hailing from hip ’hoods shunning indie-pop electric noise rock in favor of locally grown, old-time granny grooves.

Maybe it’s the backlash of a tech-heavy iPod consumer culture. Or maybe it’s too many musicians milking every last subgenre of standard-definition rocknroll until it’s spent. Whatever the case, you don’t have to open your ears too wide nowadays to hear fresh bluegrass, soul, roots-folk, and alt-country that embraces an old-world sound. 

Enter Vancouver trio the Be Good Tanyas, sirens whose first incarnation began at the turn of the century in the mountains of tree-planting camps and open stages. For years, they’ve been doing their folk thing. Lately, it’s a sound that’s caught on beyond the Northwest.  

Touring, band-member changes, and other cataclysmic events culminated in the group’s third release, Hello Love, a phenomenally rich, 13-song melodic convergence of folk instruments with harmonies layered upon harmonies. Much of the album’s sound and vibe channels the best of Neil Young (and even comes with its own Young cover of “For The Turnstiles”). All three members sing and play various instruments (including acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano, and harmonica) and are accompanied by a wealth of guests jamming out on the likes of fiddle, Wurlitzer, cello, and upright bass.  

Hello Love is soulful and earnest from the first track to the last. Songs flow hypnotically from the soft, harmonica-laden, passionate opener “Human Thing” to the album’s final hidden-track treat: a lovely, low-key take on Prince’s “When Doves Cry.”