Review by Alex McCullough
Score: 6/10
Your Friend is the moniker of Kansas-based solo artist Taryn Blake Miller. Gumption is her second album, and it’s a collection of dreamy, atmospheric pop songs. Miller’s subtle vocals fit well with the sound she’s creating with the instrumentals on this record, but unfortunately, it just isn’t interesting enough to draw me in too close.
The album starts out with its two best songs: “Heathering” and “Come Back From It”. “Heathering” is a beautiful, floaty song that creates a wonderful instrumental atmosphere and combines it with a nice vocal melody, and “Come Back From It” is a slightly more upbeat track that still keeps the atmospheric element. After these two tracks, nothing really stood out to me. The music takes a somewhat darker turn on some tracks, which I appreciate, but it’s just not enough to resonate with me. The floaty dreaminess that I liked in the beginning is still there, but it just seems a little duller. The title track brings it back a little bit, but then the interesting-ness kind of dies back down afterwards.
Your Friend has a decent sound and some good ideas here and there, but overall, it’s really nothing special. Not bad, but not great. If you’re into this style of indie pop, you’ll probably enjoy it more, but I just wanted something a little more from this album that it didn’t fully provide.
FCC violations: None
Favorite tracks: Heathering, Come Back From It, Gumption
RIYL: Beach House, Lower Dens, Watching Portlandia
