Yngve 'Tell Men This' - album review

German-born and Sligo-raised, Yngve Wieland (no relation to Scott) has been simmering underneath the skin of the Irish music industry since 2004.

Growing up in rural Sligo in the eighties, his parents’ weekly acoustic sessions fuelled Yngve’s interest in music.

His father’s musical leanings (he is one-man blues band Smokestack) have no doubt influenced him greatly, although he neglects to cite him amongst the Leonard Cohens and Martha Wainwrights on his MySpace.

Fast–forwarding to adulthood, young Yngve has since shared bills with Jape, Alphastates, Nina Hynes and Paul Weller, and is now releasing his debut full-length album.

Beginning with the physical property of the record, first impressions of the album are already impressive.

The carbon neutral case acts as a canvas for the artwork of Bennie Reilly, a fellow member of the art collective Space to Be Yourself. Flicking through, the inlay is adorned with Reilly’s trademark unnerving images of awkward children such as ‘Mutton Girl’.

It is appropriate then, for an album that largely deals with childhood innocence and loss.

Tell Men This picks up a long way off from where his self-produced EP ‘Four Weeks’ (2005) left off. Despite positive reviews, the EP meant Yngve was tagged with the derogatory and insipid ‘singer/songwriter’ label.

But there is far more to his latest release, thus un-linking him from the standardised and monotonous fare of his many Irish contemporaries.

Ultimately a folk/country/blues cohesion, Ygnve displays a musical maturity beyond his years.And yet, despite these changes he manages to retain a familiar air of whimsy and a sense of melancholy throughout.

Yngve teams up with the multi-talented Reilly on all the tracks bar one. Reilly’s voice has a strong presence despite its softness and holds some pleasing harmonies with Yngve’s. Possibly, the finest vocal pairing since Krauss and Plant began larking about.

The title of Middle Child Syndrome sends of alarm bells off signalling teen-angst fest loud and clear. But thankfully, one listen reveals it’s quite Tom Waitsy and the tone is one of detachment and observation, rather than self-pity, neatly side stepping that landmine.

Mostly the album plods along on a mellow country/folk thread, albeit with brief bluesy or upbeat interludes ─ standout tracks include Build a Spark and the Gondola Song.

Tell Men This – Recommended

See also: Leonard Cohen - New Skin for Old Ceremony [Sony], Neil Young – Harvest [Reprise /Wea] and Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sands [Rounder]

Published in Totally Dublin, November 2008