You. Me. Talk. Now. Album

The eponymous title track from our forthcoming album, You. Me. Talk. Now., has a hook to which all listeners can relate. Whether whispered or shouted, accusatory or flirtatious, this demand, You. Me. Talk. Now., has caused stomachs to stir with anxiety and excitement for generations. And, just as listeners can empathize with the woman and her beau in the title track while nodding along to a pop-rock groove, we hope that they can find commonality with the characters and themes present throughout the album.

As with our previous releases, Forget the Whale isn't interested in sticking to a particular genre throughout an album. Instead, we write what comes naturally to us, and, by allowing to be ourselves as players, the songs inevitably end up sounding like the band. You. Me. Talk. Now., however, has allowed us to push our songwriting and composition to further limits with the addition of two horn players, and perhaps the clearest example of this added dynamic is on the opening track, "IKWYB." "I Know Where You've Been," is a guitar-driven rock song with the feel of a contemporary punk rockabilly trio that appeared on the band's first EP What I Tell Myself Vol. 1 five years ago, and, in a demonstration of our newest , garnered studio experience, and maturation as composers, the song reemerges on You. Me. Talk. Now. as a big-band rock experience.

While "IKWYB" revisits a former tune with new vision, the album's second track, "Leave the Bottle." is a song unlike any other we have released to this point, infused with Latin flavor and an infectious dance beat. A live favorite, we wanted to pour our fun and spirited energy into the recorded track while also flexing some compositional and production muscle. And while unique musically from the other songs on the album, Black-Eyed Susan, the strong, dangerous, and troubled protagonist of the song is reminiscent of the other female characters that populate these songs, like the desperate, romantic country girl from the pop-rock title track. Similar as well is the smug townie bar rat in the horn-driven "Man Outta Town," who feels she is too good for the men in her small town, and so she spends her nights alone. This upbeat blues-rock tune was played for years, but took on new life and became a recording contender when the horns heard the song with fresh ears and added their parts. These women also share the stage with the battle-hardened, courageous airship captain making her final stand in the rock epic "Fire Away," a continuation of the story told on the title track of our previous EP,. While her situation is more dire than her counterparts' on the album, she fits comfortably into the album's pantheon of female characters, and while "Fire Away" itself is a departure from the upbeat, danceable, horn-infected vibes of many of the other songs on the album, its catchy hooks and riffs still fit in comfortably to the album's pop sensibilities.

The band's commitment to interesting melodies and earworm choruses is also present on the newest song to be written for the album, "Oopsie Daisy." The cute, resigned, and even silly vocal performance and hook lines juxtapose the more complex harmonies that carry the tune and the despair of a woman who knows she can't fix her love and yet makes the same mistakes again and again.

]The album closes with one of our oldest songs that went unfinished for a number of years. "Clocks" was the final song of our first performance in the summer of 2014, and featured a power-chord fueld rock ending with a vocal canon. However, we were unsatisfied with the song's ending, and so we shelved it for a number of years before reworking it with the horn section, resulting in the soulful, joyous lament for the unstoppable nature of time that now concludes the album.

From choosing the songs, workshopping them pre-production, recording, mixing, and reviewing the final mixes and mastered tracks, this album, with the amazing guidance of Corey Zack at Cocoon Studios, has taken nearly a year to complete, and it has been a year of unprecedented turmoil. Over these long months, this music has been a grounding effort for all of us, providing us with a sense of community and purpose, and we hope that the listeners will feel the love and positive energy put into these songs. We want to make an album with characters to which you can relate, with melodies that stay in your head, with grooves that will make you move, and with songs that, simply, you can enjoy, and we hope that even if every song isn't exactly what you need, there will be, at least, a little something for everyone.