When two singer/songwriters as skilled as Julie Amici & Dean Mueller get together, you know that some sparks are going to fly, and that’s exactly what happens shortly after pressing play on their new joint album I Loved You So. I Loved You So has all the hallmarks of a brooding, immensely reflective folk-rock effort, but in songs like its title track, Amici & Mueller make it very clear to us that they have no interest in following the rules and conventions commonly associated with contemporary alternative folk music.
There’s a reflective tone to this number offered up amidst lighthearted swing, and though that same tone is recycled in the slow-rolling “Sardines and Saltines,” it doesn’t sound as though it’s been simply repurposed with a new melody and a different groove. In this album, these two players cover as much ground as they can within eleven of the more eccentric songs you’re likely to hear before the spring season is over, yet their efforts sound anything but overambitious – on the contrary, their willingness to reflect honest emotionality through both texture and tonality is a breath of fresh air this year. READ MORE…