At once a University of Georgia student and at the same time a touring singer-songwriter, Allison Weiss is looking to make it big. And, with a sound that has always flirted with commercially comfortable, Weiss' crooning sounds equally apropos as a pitch for a new MacBook as it does an anthem for romantic angst. For a full time college student, Weiss is a busy and shameless self-promoter--hawking her albums and harnessing the power of the web to build a fan following. Through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, iLike, and YouTube, she has crafted a brand--supporting her music with a blur of goodies and tchotchkes that appeal to an increasingly wired teenage population.
Photo by Cara Cortese.
It's been just over a year since her last major release, conceivably long enough for Weiss to date and breakup with a boy; to provide fodder for yet another installment of work in a growing cannon of work that is painfully adherent to the "boy breaks girl's heart" genre. From unabashedly indie Athens, GA, Allison Weiss is something of an anomaly; living in the space between pop tartlets and over stylized, tragically cool indie rock. Previous work has revealed a deft touch in balancing catchy with creative, but early selections from her newest album, "...was right all along" veer more than ever before in to 'catchy' territory.The result is a sound that is still ever reminiscent of a purer version of Weiss, but produced to a tidy end that removes the charms that came from her acoustic sound. The single "Fingers Crossed" is an enjoyable, if not predictable riff--but Weiss' wispy vocals are washed out by a busy drumline. For a singer-songwriter whose lyrics are generally pretty transparent, "Fingers Crossed" was a challenging meditation on boys and staying dry. Or at least that's what it seems like. The refreshing, summery "From You to Me" is distinctly Allison Weiss, with a peppiness that blends post-teen angst tartness with a tasty, sweet, quirkiness. It's a bubbly, perky two and a half minutes--and while it doesn't reinvent the pop music wheel, it is comfortable like an old blanket--cozy and unpretentious. Not fussy. Still, behind the pretty sounds, the comfortable melodies, are lyrics rich with heartache. Careful listeners will find a bitter pill of pain and romantic plight behind the sweetness and quirk of Weiss' foot-tapping-worthy melodies.
This is the summery CD to an adventurous compilation released two years ago, "Winter Mixtape". There, largely without production, Allison strums and croons--and the result is both darker, sadder, and reveals the extent of her strengths as a guitarist and vocalist. She's taking her new act on a limited roadshow, and bringing her self-described 'shameless self-promotion' along: selling "Allison Weiss is okay, I guess" t-shirts after each show. Or, pick up a button with her unofficial pancake logo on it. It, like Allison herself a playful mix of syrupy sweet and classically satisfying.
