New York trio The Narrative gives us arguably the best male and female dual vocalist performance in recent memory with this ambitious 13-track, 53-minute opus of a debut album. Keyboardist Suzie Zeldin and guitarist Jesse Gabriel split the duties, but it’s Zeldin’s voice that’s impossible not to fall in love with. While she starts off saccharine on album opener Fade, Zeldin will send shivers down your spine on tracks like the absolutely beautiful piano ballad Don’t Want To Fall and End All. Still, Gabriel proves he can hold his own on the devious Winter’s Coming, singing, “I am a sinner with a crooked smile and you took to the rhythm of a no-good liar.” Clocking in at nearly an hour, it’s refreshing to see such a young band produce music that they’ve clearly spent a lot of time perfecting. The Narrative are simply piano-driven pop-rock at its finest.

Published in Volume 65, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 16, 2010)