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July 2nd, 2009 by Robert Ham

Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman have spent the majority of their careers resting in the shadows of the people they’ve worked with and projects they’ve collaborated on. This is especially true of their days as members of The Revolution, the backing band that ushered Prince through the most creative and commercially successful period of his career.

Bearing the weight of his high profile, Wendy & Lisa’s work away from The Revolution unfortunately never caught fire in the marketplace despite the appreciation of critics and their fellow musicians. It’s a shame, too, as the work that Wendy & Lisa have done together over the years, starting with a self-titled effort in 1987, has been quite satisfying, filled with bold strokes of chamber pop and lilting psychedelia.

Thankfully for Wendy & Lisa, the years have been kinder to them than they have to their former employer, musically speaking, as evidenced by this, the duo’s first album in a decade. Their approach to songwriting hasn’t altered much, but the work on White Flags feels as mature and fully formed as ever.

It’s an album that is instantly recognizable as a byproduct of the duo’s adopted hometown of Los Angeles, bearing the sun-baked haziness that has marked so many of the best pop records to come out of the city. It’s there in the rambling tempo and sparkling cool of songs like “Red Bike” and “Invisible”, as well as the album’s overall relaxed, yet assured tone.

Mostly, White Flags feels, for lack of a better term, comfortable. The end of the duo’s romantic relationship (a breakup that inspired the album’s most impassioned song, the acoustic ballad “You and I”) has not tarnished their creative partnership one iota. Wendy & Lisa have fallen back into the well-worn grooves that made their work so interesting from the beginning. To hear them settle into the grinding, sexed-up rhythms of “Salt And Cherries” or get lost together in the ethereal vapor of the album’s title track is to hear this duo at their best.

Unlike the first three albums, I couldn't immediately get into White Flags (other than one or two songs). I thought, "oh god, this is the 'mature' album" that so many artists make at one point or antother, where they cut their hair, and reflect on their lives and careers, which is almost always a good thing for the artist, but doesn't always translate to great music.

I've read the interviews about everything that was happening when they made this album (deaths, births, breakups, etc.), and it made perfect sense that they wouuld want to make a subdued (for the most part), intimate album.

But, after the initial "meh" reaction, White Flags grew on me quickly and now I love it. A great addition to the W&L catalog. Balloon, Salt & Cherries, and Sweet Suite are probably my favorites, but I love them all. Also dig some of the bonus tracks that I got from the W&L website.

^ I agree. I was not a fan of Girl Bros. for some reason. Only listened once or twice. I had it for collection purposes. It was a few months before I heard the new album. I found myself really digging it. There are times when Wendy's voice seems to be mixed a bit low and it's a struggle to hear her, but having said that....the whole album is really, really well done. It's a perfect W&L album.

ernestsewell said:

Very passive-aggressive line right there. Wendy and Lisa have a wonderfully diverse and high-quality catalog - and WFOWC is superb, but comparing the outputs of the Girl Bros duo to Prince's is silly. Apples and Oranges.

By the very nature of Prince's career trajectory, he has positioned himself so that he is able to release a plethora of material rivaling almost all other contemporary artists. W&L's priorities and situation are obviously different, and we are lucky to see an album every few years. The quality over quantity argument doesn't work here, as perspective has been placed by the wayside.

Otherwise, the article is nice.

ernestsewell said:

Speaking of Girl Bros., while it's not my favorite album and some of my least favorite W&L songs are on it, the songs that I do love from Girl Bros, I truly love.

I'm currently getting reacquainted with it, and a lot (though not all) of what I cast aside previously is piquing my interest.