The Love Willows

An Atlanta duo that wants young audiences to have fun, singer Hope Partlow and guitarist/vocalist Ryan Wilson have crafted a buoyant debut album, Hey! Hey! that is unabashedly upbeat. You might even smell the cotton candy in this collection of enjoyable pop/rockabilly tunes, like spinning through an amusement park where childlike pleasures can be found in even the simplest of rides. Not that The Love Willows doesn't speak to young adults. In fact, most of Hey! Hey! tracks the evolution of their own relationship. "It's all about fetishes, love and hate," says Hope. "It's a product of what we've gone through as a couple, the battles and the glories, everything that's happened in the past few years." The accessibility of their songs also belies their inventiveness and, oftentimes, their subtle sophistication. "I feel like we bring something different to the table," says Ryan, who produced and engineered the album. The pair recorded Hey! Hey! in the attic studio of Ryan's parents' home outside of Atlanta, with Ryan playing every instrument and both of them songwriting. The tunes are brightly colored - much like Hope and Ryan when they perform live, with swaths of neon yellows, pinks and greens adorning their clothes and gear. The first single, "Falling Faster," is mid-tempo romantic narrative; "A Day in My Life" reveals their sly complexity, with Hope's enthusiastic vocals layered over sonic themes which embrace pop conventions as they tip a hat to both Irving Berlin and Brian Setzer. "Strut My Stuff," featured on the season finale of "The Real World: Hollywood," is a quirky tune with a music-box riff throughout, while "Shoes," a tribute to soul over soles, is equal pop and polka. Other tracks are more straight-ahead, from the punchy "Gotta Make You Mine" to the encouragement of "Keep Your Head Up." Hope Partlow was born near Memphis and grew up on her dad's collection of country music: from Jim Reeves to Patsy Cline. She was six when she did her first paying gig, earning $25 for singing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." At sixteen she saw the release of her first solo album through Virgin Records and toured with the likes of Jesse McCartney, but an executive shake-up at Virgin sent her back to square one. Ryan Wilson grew up in Atlanta with a variety of pop/rock influences, from classic (The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Queen, ELO) to modern (Weezer, Jellyfish, Jimmy Eat World, The Format). He played in bands in and around Atlanta until auditioning as a guitarist for Hope's touring band a half-dozen years back. The admiration was mutual - and immediate. "I saw his curly hair from behind, and I thought, `He's cute, I hope he can play,' and he was awesome," says Hope. "When I first saw her, I was like, `This could be trouble,' Ryan recalls. "And when I heard her sing... I never heard a vocal like that live and in person. I was like, `Wow, that's real, raw talent.'" Hope moved in to Ryan's parent's attic where he began courting her by building a recording studio. In lieu of college life, they began writing songs together with the vow to do things their way, making music that they felt. Decca Records felt it, too, signing the duo on the spot after the label's first listen to their demos. "I feel like everything has happened for a reason and we're getting closer and closer to that reason," says Hope. "I feel like people are so ready for something new." Whether new or maybe just fun, it's all fine for The Love Willows. Hey! Hey!