Pop band He Is We is the anti-Taylor Swift — and better Everyday Music

Jul

Pop band He Is We is the anti-Taylor Swift — and better

Angelina Brewis Entertainment Ideas 2011-07-08

Rachel Taylor, the lead singer of pop duo He Is We, is sort of the anti-Taylor Swift.

He Is Wes Taylor, left, and Kelly

About the same age, the two both write songs mostly about relationships. And except for an occasional fiddle in Swift’s songs and stronger guitar in He Is We’s, they play roughly the same catchy pop music.

But while Swift’s bounce with middle school fairytale love or bitter revenge, Taylor’s have an earthy realness to which young adults can relate honestly.

Taylor made just that observation from stage Saturday at The Note in West Chester, where He Is We was on its first headlining tour on the strength of its debut album “My Forever.”

“Taylor Swift always talks about her white horse riding in,” Taylor said before the song “Prove You Wrong.” “There aren’t any songs about girls saving guys. So I wrote it.”

In fact, that was a fair approximation of all 10 of the songs He Is We played in a too-short, 45-minute set. They contained the same quirky twists, and same expression of real emotions, of real life.

For example, Taylor says she wrote the very good “Forever and Ever” to tell her for her fiancé how she felt. And she sang those words with emphasis.

The was the other thing: Rachel Taylor can actually sing. On “Blame It on the Rain” she spit out the words in long, strong notes, standing with her palm pressed forward as she sang.

While He Is We’s band – in addition to Taylor and guitar player Trevor Kelly, there was a drummer, second guitarist and bassist – was dynamic on the opening “Fall” and beating and percolating on “And Run,” the song the duo did acoustically were even better.

Sitting on a stool for “I Wouldn’t Mind,” with Kelly playing acoustic guitar, Taylor sang strong and emotionally. A non-album song, “Breathe,” was great. The crowd – about 450 or so — not only cheered, but sang along.

That also was an indication of He Is We’s rising status: Its fans know the words not only to its best-known songs, but its obscure ones, as well. “Someone knows it?” Taylor said to those who sang along on “I Wouldn’t Mind.” “Cool.”

In fact, when He Is We did the very good “All About You,” supporting act Andrew Allen sang along from his merchandise table.

And when the closed with their hit “Happliy Ever After,” everyone sang along. The fuller band treatment didn’t necessarily make the song better, diluting its texture. In fact, the whole set wasn’t quite as good as when the band played Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café in April.

But it was still a great song – a swirl of the uncertainty that captures the reality of young adult life in a way Taylor Swift never could. And the crowd not only sang along, they, bounced, too.

Who knows? Before long, He Is We may be bigger than Taylor Swift.

Speaking of Andrew Allen, the Canadian singer-songwriter was every bit as good as He Is We in a six-song, 30-minute set.

Allen, too, has a great voice – probably the best feature of his music. But his jaunty, often island-tinged tunes are fun and entertaining, too.

Andrew Allen

And Allen sang them as if he was invested in them: high-stepping to the vaguely reggae beat that had won over the audience by the second song, the cute and bouncy “Sooner.”

His influences were obvious: On the song “Me and You” – so new it was written after the completion of his upcoming album “What You Wanted,” but which Allen said he may want to include on the disc – he sounded very much like Jason Mraz.

And he covered Sublime’s “What I Got” – the crowd was so young that Allen had to explain who the early-‘90s band was. Not that it mattered – Allen’s voice actually improved the song, which he nicely updated, adding Mraz-like scat-singing and ending with an a cappella coda.

But Allen showed off his best singing for his hit “Loving You Tonight,” his voice high and sweet. And his closing song, the title track off his upcoming disc, was even better, with a wonderful beat.

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