Hello, Dear

January 26th, 2009 at 6.50pm (Album reviews)

In the dying days of November, I was approached by a Toronto band by the name of Svelt St. informing me of a new record titled Hello, Dear dropping in late December 2008. They describe themselves as “jumping genres,” incorporating elements of “trip-hop, hip-hop, house, breakbeats, rock and electro to name a few, [and] pulling an equally eclectic fan base”.

The band is made up of two members, vocalist and MC, and Hello, Dear is their second record; their first, according to their MySpace, was distributed online-only and sold out quickly.

For courtesy’s sake, I will keep this review short: Svelt St. does not captivate me. While I can see some songs transitioning well to the dance floor, when a beat matters more than artistry or decent lyrics, none of the work on Hello, Dear keeps me interested. The single “Po’ Boy” starts off promisingly, a subdued School of Language-style vocal intro, but then the cheesy synth and beats kick in and that’s the end of that.

Most of the lyrics on the record are unremarkable, as are the beats; I don’t hear anything here that sounds new or different from the usual “club beat” stuff. The lead-off track, “Lights On,” sounds like your usual dance tune (synthesizers, drum machine) with vocals mixed low and such creative lyrics as “Turn off the lights, daddy’s home”.

While Hello, Dear might be all right for ambient noise or the club, there’s nothing about this record that suggests to me it might have staying power; it’s not remarkable for any reason, and doesn’t live up to the hype suggested by the Svelt St myspace page. I am not incensed by its terribleness as I might be with some bands — it’s certainly not at that level! — but I’m not thrilled with anything on the record either. Svelt St. have succeeded in crafting that most elusive of things: an album that leaves a music critic completely devoid of any emotion toward it. Could be worse, I guess.

Svelt St. on MySpace
Listen to Po’ Boy

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4 Comments

  1. barbara said,

    January 27, 2009 at 9.48pm

    I have to agree – Po’ Boy has a promising start, but seems to quickly settle into a rut. It would probably work on an ambient mix though.

  2. Ruhee said,

    January 28, 2009 at 1.41pm

    I think it might. I guess I’m just not into stuff like this — music has to keep me interested! (Imagine that, I know.)

  3. Crystal said,

    February 5, 2009 at 2.30am

    Understand what you few are saying, but have you actually really listened to the lyrics or did you just dismiss it immediately as dance music? They’re actually quite interesting. Highly suggest giving the full album a listen … I pick up a little more each time.

  4. Ruhee said,

    February 5, 2009 at 9.07am

    That’s a valid challenge, since I didn’t elaborate on them as much as I could have — but yeah, I did listen to the lyrics. I certainly can’t recite every word back to you, but I gave the record a fair chance, and wasn’t thrilled about it.

    I should say, though, that I didn’t “immediately dismiss it as dance music”. I do actually enjoy dance tunes, and I’m not enough of a snob to pretend I don’t. There are records in every genre that fail to excite me, for one reason or another, and this was one of them. I don’t think it’s a terribly bad album, I just don’t think it’s an interesting one.

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