http://soundcloud.com/babesband/sets/5-tears LA-based quintet, Babes, garnered attention last year when they released their debut EP and their wildly popular "Babes Hotline" (470-BABES-77), where lonely souls could call in and usually get one of the warm voices that makes up Babes, to pick up and talk to you.
A year later, the Babes Hotline is still in full force, but now the band has released their debut LP, Untitled (Five Tears). Drenched in the tears of siblings Aaron, Zach, and Sarah Rayne Leigh, and cousins Jeffrey Baird and Bryan Harris, Five Tears is an ode to all the sad boys and girls out there. The ones who have lost love and now walk around with pieces of their trampled heart trailing in their wake. The Babes fivesome are of those sad guys and gals, but makes songs, like the ones on Five Tears that help them accept the pain and simultaneously shift their attitudes toward something beautiful and lighthearted.
Babes' sunshine outlook on love and loss translates in their unmistakably pop-driven songs. The lush and friendly bass-line on "I've Got A Reason To Keep On Living," and swirling synth on "Lonely Forever," seem like sonic encouragements to get up, get out, and live your life. Five Tears' 10 tracks are like advisories in forgetting the tragic and trudging on. The record's overall gorgeousness has a whole lot to do with Sarah Rayne Leigh's voice, which hits every pitch with equal clarity and intention of tone. Buoyant beats and slow synth back her up wordlessly, filling in non-verbal gaps with dreamy guitar tangents, while backing vocals repeat simple sentiments like mantras.
Listen to Babes' full album, Five Tears, above.