Awaiting the perfect song

Reviewed July 2005

San Diego's Yovee is a band of intriguing vision and sterling musicianship – but one that on its second album never finds that one breakthrough song that shows not only shows off their genius, but burrows into your head and heart and won't leave either.

That album, "Too Far Gone," showcases the band's lush harmony vocals and unusual (at least for a band with an indie/alt edginess) reliance on piano to provide much of the anchor for its sound.

"Grace" comes closest to providing that missing perfect song, but in the end it – like many of the other songs – only teases. It is well-crafted, full of little aural nooks and crannies that hold your interest. But the melody is, well, a bit plain. Nowhere does it break out into something purely beautiful. That's true of several other songs as well; the technique of putting them together is unquestionable – but the melody at the heart of them is simply lacking.

Still, one gets the idea that the perfect song still awaits Yovee – that they'll find it and when they do, that it will be something magnificent and wondrous.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).