Thompson Square

Album review

Married couple Keifer and Shawna Thompson make the most of their romantic pairing on their debut album as the duo Thompson Square, turning in a collection of songs that treat various sides of a committed relationship. The first single, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" recounts a love story from initial smooch through exchanged vows, establishing their frisky interest in each other, and songs like "I Got You" and "My Kind of Crazy" provide variations on the theme. The Thompsons certainly are not above hashing out the conflicts that spark their romance. On "As Bad as It Gets," they accuse each other of stereotypical faults: she buys too many shoes, he leaves the toilet seat up. "Let's Fight" brings the underlying antagonism into the open, only to lead back to a clinch, and in "Getaway Car," they imagine themselves to be Bonnie and Clyde. These sentiments are set to music that registers as "country" largely due to the content of the lyrics and the twang in the singers' voices. On its own, the music really would fall into pop/rock or classic rock categories most of the time. The dominant instrument is the electric guitar, and many of the arrangements are outright rockers. Most of the time, it's about as country as Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. And for much of it, the partnership of Keifer and Shawna is uneven. Keifer tends to dominate, taking most of the vocals and singing more distinctively than his wife, who tends to be too self-effacing when left to take a verse by herself, but gets more aggressive when she has to fight for recognition with her husband in the choruses. She finally lets loose in the closer, "One of Those Days," demonstrating that, when she wants to, she can let out her inner rock star.

© William Ruhlmann /TiVo