Audio By Carbonatix
More often than not, a band’s hometown or adopted place of residence heavily influences its music. Bands love to sing about what they know, and the city where they grew up or have lived much of their lives is a perfect muse for their inspired songwriting. Unfortunately, sometimes a hometown can act as the exact opposite, making for a rag-tag bunch of songs that rely on a listener’s nostalgia for their beloved city to disguise poor, corny songwriting that lacks any real inspiration outside of simply living in one particular part of the country. Perhaps inspired by Sufjan Stevens, Southern California folk rockers Your Yellow Dress exemplify the latter idea, penning innocent little ditties about their beloved Orange County that are nothing more than songs with lyrics depicting factual descriptions of the county itself — such as the year in which it was founded — put to jangly guitars and loud trombones. No one ever said Your Yellow Dress didn’t try their hardest to put forth their own folk-tinged take on what makes Southern California special. Unfortunately, no one also ever said that what the band was doing was something inspired. Cute and kitschy? Yes. Worthwhile? Not really.
