Tess Wiley
"Rainy Day Assembly"

   ( 2001 Tess Wiley; Effanel Music / wileyrock.de )

   (English review version)

Tess Wiley is active in the music bizz since 1993. She played with bands like Sixpence None The Richer, Phantasmic and Velour 100. Sometime at the end of the 90s she went solo and in 1999 she released her first solo record, "The Energy You Keep EP." However, all her fans waited for a full length album. Last year it was the right time for it. Tess finally released "Rainy Day Assembly" and this may be the record of a lifetime.

Some of the songs are already a bit older. Some of them first appeared on her demo tape from 1997, on various artist compilations and her EP from 1999. But here on this disc they all were re-recorded with full professional production. And the final piece of music sounds incredible for me.

You should take the title track (#2), give it a remix edit by a Ben Grosse something and release it as a maxi single into the mainstream. And then let's see if there's a new handmade alternative summer radio hit like in the 'Sixpence year of ´99'… I really like this song, it has a catchy guitar riff which works as a great hookline.
"Untitled" (#9) has the most "indie" sound and is a wonderful atmospheric ballad. Way faster and peppier than on the EP comes "The Energy You Keep" (#6) to my ears. "Something Sweet And Real" (#5) is another pop gem while "breathe" (#4) sounds exactly like the song title suggests…
All songs were written by the singer herself and show the great songwriting talents of this young lady. It seems to be always the same: An underground songwriter goes far beyond the songs offered in the pop charts. Tess is able to write timeless rock songs. Some of them here go back to the mid 90s but if you don't know that you'll never would expect it!

Tess' ethereal voice is like the final crown for this different kind of music. She sounds a bit more rockier than Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer but she is in the same direction. In my opinion Tess belongs to the first bunch of the "rock chicks."

Her lyrics go very deep on one hand and on the other one it's not your typical intellectual love song. In the opener she also makes references to God. - He brings the pain into our lifes but it's always good for something. - Most of these epic verses don't seem to reveal their full potential to me because English is not my native language and it's a bit hard to understand all these metaphors and allegories. She talks about life, love, wisdom and faith.

The verdict: This album will rock your socks off - it's a must have for any fan of Tess or Sixpence None The Richer and for all music lovers with a fine taste in timeless alternative rock!