The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 — 5

Although Sarah Hayes and 
Peter Brewis do not exist in 
the space of musical theater, 
their debut self-titled album, 
You Tell Me, could certainly 
pass as an attempt at Broadway. 
The album’s theatrical effect 
brews from not only mawkish 
sentimentality, but also from a 
blatant attempt at a fresh blend of 
Hayes’s indie-folk and Brewis’s 
rock-pop, which unfortunately 
creates a trite sound.
One half of the You Tell 
Me duo is composed of Sarah 
Hayes, a Scottish flautist, 
keyboard player and singer. 
Hayes serves as one-fifth 
of the wholesome folk band 
Admiral Fallow in addition 
to having released her own 
debut album titled Woven, 
which establishes her skillful 
aptitude for flute and keyboard. 
Peter Brewis, the other half of 
You Tell Me, has seen success 
in his British rock band Field 
Music, while also using his 
strong 
compositional 
talent 
in the industry for more than 
fifteen years, particularly when 
it comes to electro-pop. Hayes 
sought Brewis out at a concert, 
and the You Tell Me pair was 
born.
You Tell Me attempts to blend 
the duo’s talents — Hayes’s 
ballad-like 
folk 
voice 
and 
Brewis’s hints of pop; however, 

the effect is more suited for a 
musical, as listeners can feel the 
gears of the duo glaringly turning 
to create an awe-inspired effect. 
Over-sentimentality is created 
not only with Hayes’s long-held 
notes, but also with the blatant 
corniness of the lyrics, which is 
most notably seen in “Invisible 
Ink”: “Held in a lie just so secrets 
are shown / They inspect, you 
oblige, every silence feeds the 
lie.” The melodrama continues 
in “Get Out of The Room”: 
“You’re 
scared 
of 
settling 
down / You already said you 

were moving away from me, 
now you’re asking if you can 
stay.” The emotions are there, 
unfortunately, they come across 
as plain-spoken.
More important than the 
overtly corny lyrics, the main 
contributor 
to 
the 
musical 
theater vibe is the album’s 
tendency to catch the listener 
with one sound, only to abruptly 
showcase a different noise. The 
best example of a track breaking 
back on itself in this way is the 
outro “Kabuki,” which begins 
with electronic pop, only to dip 

out of synths halfway through 
and completely burrow into 
theatrical strings. The blend 
trend in the music industry 
holds infinite rewards – the mix 
of varying talents oftens leading 
to a fresh, original sound. 
However, it feels as if You Tell 
Me serves as an exposition for 
each artist’s individual talents. 
Simply put, the album exists as 
a mix of oil and water, instead 
of inhabiting the space between 
Hayes and Brewis. Melodies 
break 
quickly, 
leaving 
the 
listener struggling to ground 
themselves, floating around 
between the two musicians’ 
styles.
Although 
the 
album 
cripples 
itself 
with 
an 
intense emphasis on the 
duo blending their sounds, 
their use of instruments 
clearly exhibits experience 
in the music industry. Catchy 
keyboard rhythms push the 
listener through each song, 
and strings delicately warrant 
attention. Most notably, You Tell 
Me holds moments of soothing 
complement — “Get Out Of The 
Room” features an even use of 
voice from Brewis and Hayes, 
and they capture a brief moment 
of rich sound. Unfortunately, as 
seen by a multitude of artists, 
(more than just You Tell Me), 
the space between contrasting 
entities 
proves 
quite 
hard 
to grasp, with high risk and 
powerful rewards. 

‘You Tell Me’ attempts 
synthesis, fails overall

SAM CANTIE
For The Daily

MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES

MUSIC REVIEW

When I was a little girl, I ran 
into my mother’s room crying 
because I had a nightmare where 
she was eaten by a goblin. I 
jumped into her arms and asked 
her to never leave me. She told 
me that one day, hopefully a day 
far away from then, she would 
have to leave this earth, but she 
would never leave me. She said 
that we always carry the people 
we love within us, wherever we 
go. Moving away to college, 
I found that sentiment to be 
more true than ever before. 
If I think hard enough, I can 
distinctly smell the rosy scent 
of my mother’s perfume. If I 
close my eyes for long enough, 
I can hear the laughter my 
brother and I shared over an 
episode of Spongebob. We carry 
the experiences we have with 
our loved ones for our entire 
lives. I have always believed 

this is true for everyone. One 
chilly winter’s evening, as the 
long awaited snow of January 
was falling softly outside the 
window of Literati Bookstore, 
this belief was further solidified 
in my mind.
Sid 
Smith, 
a 
professor 
of Women’s Studies at the 
University, received devastating 
news a few years ago: Her 
husband was diagnosed with 
dementia. A lot changed after 
this diagnosis, specifically his 
ability to tell stories like he 
used to, which is why Smith 
conducted 
the 
reading 
of 
her husband’s book “Canio’s 
Secret,” a book laced with 
memories Greg was no longer 
able to recall. Currently, Greg’s 
dimentia prevents him from 
reading his story himself. 
Walking into Literati, I was a 
bit skeptical. I didn’t know much 
about this book besides the brief 
description I had read online. I 
knew it was set in Chicago in the 

’50s and that it was a “coming-
of-age 
story 
chronicling 
a 
boy’s poignant struggle to find 
consolation in his mother’s 
Catholicism 
and to break 
free of his 
father’s 
anger.” 
I 
was curious 
as to why 
the wife of 
the author 
was reading 
his novel, as 
opposed to 
the author 
himself. 
But 
then 
Sid 
Smith 
began 
to 
speak of her 
husband 
and 
his 
battle 
with 
dementia, 
my 
questions were answered.
“The 
memories 
in 
this 
book 
have 
evaporated 
like 

snowflakes in his mind,” Smith 
wrote in her editor’s note. She 
went on to add, “I don’t have 
the theatrical background that 
Greg had, so I probably 
won’t be able to do his 
story as much justice 
as he could in reading 
it.” Smith spoke of the 
love she had for her 
husband, holding back 
tears as she read the 
note. Her delicate and 
thoughtful 
reading 
of 
his 
writing 
was 
moving.
As 
a 
listener, 
I 
could almost hear her 
husband speaking the 
words he wrote. “It’s 
hard for me to read 
it, in a way, because 
I can hear his voice 
saying it,” Smith said. 
Although I hadn’t met her 
husband before, I felt as though 
I could hear his voice saying it, 
too. Her deep understanding 

and love for her husband made 
it easy for listeners to envision 
him reading his words right 
alongside her.
The 
story 
itself 
was 
intriguing. 
There 
were 
numerous themes at play: Greg’s 
relationship with catholicism, 
his familial conflicts and a 
young boy finding his way in 
’50s Chicago. The sections of 
the book Smith had selected for 
the reading allowed listeners to 
gage a full scope of the content 
of the book without giving away 
too much. The passages she 
read were detailed and left me 
wanting to read more.
I wish the crowd size of the 
event was larger and that there 
were more youth and students 
in the audience. Me and my 
three friends seemed to be the 
youngest in the audience of 20 
people by about 15 years. The 
event as a whole was very well 
put together, but I wish more 
people had experienced the rich 

words of Greg’s novel.
Smith’s love for her husband 
radiated to the entire room. 
Her 
husband, 
pre-dementia, 
was still living and breathing 
inside 
of 
her. 
He 
seemed 
to be joining the guests at 
Literati in an evening out as 
well. During the question and 
answer portion of the event, 
Smith read an anecdote about 
how her husband was a real 
charmer. How he could talk up 
anyone in any room because he 
was truly interested in people. 
During this reading, it felt as 
if Greg was waltzing around 
the bookstore, charming us all 
by telling the intriguing story 
of his life. It’s quite beautiful 
how love has the power to 
create entire beings. It’s quite 
beautiful how Smith had the 
strength and perseverance to 
share both her husband and her 
love for him with all of us for a 
few hours on a snowy January 
evening. What a gift it was.

Illuminating ‘Canio’s 
Secret’ with Sid Smith

ALIX CURNOW
Daily Arts Writer

FLICKR

EVENT REVIEW

“You Tell Me”

You Tell Me

Memphis Industries

“It’s hard for 
me to read it, in 
a way, because 
I can hear his 
voice saying it,” 
Smith said.

Stephen 
Falk’s 
criminally 
underrated “You’re the Worst” 
enters its final season promising 
a happy ending to the story 
of its two narcissistic, vulgar, 
blowhard protagonists. However, 
anyone who has been following 
the 
show 
since 
its inception will 
be holding their 
breath. After all, if 
there is anything 
we 
know 
about 
these 
characters 
at all at this point, 
it is that they are 
prepared to eject 
at any moment.
The 
season 
premiere does not 
assuage nor deepen 
these 
concerns 
but 
rather 
creatively 
sums 
up 
everything 
about 
the 
show 
to this point. We 
flash back to the 
’90s, 
where 
a 
video store owner 
and 
amateur 
filmmaker 
Jake 
(Morgan 
Krantz, 
“Neurotica”) 
meets 
fellow 
cinephile, Gemma 
(Caitlin 
McGee, 
“I’m 
Dying 
Up 
Here”), 
browsing 
the “Staff Picks” 
section 
of 
his 
store. 
They 
immediately 
hit 
it off, exchanging 
snappy 
banter 
and 
revealing 
a 
shared desire to 
see an extremely 
rare 
French 
film called “The 
Intransigence 
of 
Love.”
Roughly ten minutes into this 
picturesque meet-cute, it turns 
out this budding love story is 
an entirely fabricated one, with 
our protagonists Jimmy (Chris 
Geere, 
“Ill 
Behaviour”) 
and 
Gretchen (Aya Cash, “Fosse/

Verdon”) attempting to create 
a compelling fiction about how 
they actually met while guzzling 
down 
the 
complimentary 
alcohol. Falk’s writing lovingly 
skewers ’90s movies, as well as 
general romcom tropes, but it 
also seems to admire them. He 
understands the universal desire 
to continue making these types 
of 
films 
and 
to 
articulate 
the 
intense 
emotions 
stemming 
from a special 
romance, but as 
he has always 
shown, 
he 
believes 
that 
such romances 
are much more 
multifaceted 
than 
they 
are 
usually 
portrayed 
and 
also 
deserving 
of 
a 
more 
true-to-life 
treatment.
Although 
the 
couple 
themselves 
would 
surely 
despise 
anything 
remotely 
resembling 
the 
tropes 
of 
the 
rom-com 
genre, 
their 
real moments of 
sheer sweetness 
(e.g. 
Jimmy’s 
support during 
the worst spell 
of 
Gretchen’s 
depression) 
that have led 
them up to this 
point in their 
relationship 
are 
just 
as 
important. 
Sure, Gretchen 
and Jimmy are terrible people; 
they both have run out on each 
other and have broken each 
other’s hearts in cynical fashion. 
Perhaps more so than any show 
on TV, the show never backs down 
from showing the ugly, messy 

side of modern relationships. 
However, Gretchen and Jimmy 

have also made real sacrifices 
for and have come to understand 
each other more than anyone in 
their lives. 
The second half of the season 
opener returns viewers to the 
rose-tinted 
flashback 
world 
of “Jake” and “Gemma,” with 
Jimmy and Gretchen actually 
playing their invented personas. 
After a brief reunion at a New 
Year’s Party, Jake and Gemma 
are separated for a while before 
a dramatic scene at the “Le 
France” film festival, in which 
Gemma, 
now 
an 
acclaimed 
director, is winning an award. 
Out of nowhere, Jake arrives 
at her press conference to ask 
a question about where she got 
her first film camera, and before 
long, the two fall in love all over 
again. Enter a brief interlude 
including a confrontation with 
a portly French film professor, 
which yanks viewers out of the 
reverie, back to the real world. 
The story gets hastily wrapped 
up as Jimmy and Gretchen decide 
to barge out of their meeting.
Their 
final 
conversation 
reveals the crux of the episode. 
While 
they 
have 
been 
too 
embarrassed by their actual love 
story to ever tell it to any of their 
current companions, it is the 
only one that actually feels real. 
“You’re the Worst” has always 
celebrated the gloriously ugly 
journey the couple has taken, 
and in this final season, it will be 
exciting to see whether they can 
finally commit to it. 

‘You’re the Worst’ shines in 
the fifth season premiere

SAYAN GHOSH
Assistant Arts Editor

MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES

TV REVIEW

“You’re 
the 
Worst”

FX

Season 5 Premiere

Wednesday nights

However, anyone 
who has been 
following the 
show since its 
inception will 
be holding their 
breath. After 
all, if there is 
anything we 
know about these 
characters at all 
at this point, it 
is that they are 
prepared to eject 
at any moment.

