After a couple years of releasing luminous singles and EPs that sound like soundtracks to the sweetest secondary school dances ever,
the Yearning finally made a full album. Released in 2014,
Dreamboats & Lemonade is orchestrated and played by Joe Moore and a small cast of like-minded musicians with vocals by the barely out of secondary school herself Maddie Dobie. Moore's aim is to take the girl group and Brill Building sounds of the '60s, dip them in sugar, dip them again for good measure, and then wrap them up in the cutest packaging imaginable. The songs are simple, the arrangements would be easy listening-approved if they weren't candied enough to happily rot even the hardiest set of teeth, and Dobie's vocals make
Claudine Longet sound like a
Franklin sister. Basically, rockers and tough guys need not apply, for this is music aimed at gentle souls and dreamers only. Most of the album sounds perfect for pining, melancholy daydreaming, moonlight reveries, and solitary walks in gardens. The slow ballads like "If I Can't Have You" and the sumptuous "Never Learn to Cry" especially. When the band turns up the dial on the tempo and energy controls, like on the almost peppy "Dance with Me" or "Every Time I Fall in Love," which kind of sounds like a song from a '50s Western sung by
Doris Day, they make a teeny tiny bit of noise, but not enough to break the fragile spell the album casts. The
Yearning aren't suitable for daily consumption, but as the occasional sweet treat,
Dreamboats & Lemonade is a nice addition to an adventurous indie pop fan's menu. ~ Tim Sendra