Dreyer Family Band.  Family Photograph.  2009.

Have you ever heard an album that sounded completely disjointed because the band dabbled in too many musical styles?  If you’re a shuffle-mode type of person, maybe you wouldn’t mind it, but as a whole-album listener, I feel hesitance toward such projects.  It’s a hard task to pull off successfully, and I commend the Dreyer Family Band’s ability to balance variety with unity.

Not to mention, they are the nuclear families of two siblings living on opposite coasts (man, I feel that) with their sound clearly meeting in the middle.  You’ve got your jazz, your funk, your soul, your country…there’s a lot there, musically.  Underneath there’s something beautiful and rootsy that ties it all together.  Lyrically, the underlying themes are love, appreciation, and harmony, but anger and frustration get their say.

When we first listened to the album on a longish car ride, and Nate asked an age-old question:

Nate:  Why do people feel the need to have children singing on their albums?

Me:  (in a tone that might be mistaken for condescension)  Um, they’re called the Dreyer Family Band…the whole family is involved.

Nate:  (with acceptance and understanding)  Oh, okay.

I’m not even going to issue a Child Singing Alert, because it’s only noticeable on a couple of tracks, and it fits in nicely with the scope of the album.

I asked Nate what he thought of the album, in case he wanted to co-review with me.  His nutshell description:  “A little too new-agey for me.  But good!”

Highlights:

• “Mad” – Did you ever “really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to” punch someone?  Did you vent your frustration Johnny Cash-style?  Shoulda.  (listen)
• “Boo-Hoo” – A song to ease over the scrapes and bruises.  Better than ice.  I found myself singing this while dancing with one of my nearly-one-year-old nephews yesterday.  He hadn’t injured himself, but it’s really fun to sing to a baby. (listen)

As almost a footnote, the girls found the moustache picture quite funny.  After some contemplation, they determined that “the ones on the kids must be fake.”  Apparently the ones on the women weren’t even suspicious…?

Disclosure:  A review copy was provided by the Dreyer Family Band for review.  They have neither paid nor pressured me to speak well of it.

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