Tell Me World is the debut album from Welsh duo Lowri Evans and Sarah Zyborska who came together as Tapestri in 2019. This is a partnership that the whole world needs to stop and listen to. Tell Me World is an album that highlights the struggles that women face in this world, and how to overcome the challenges. As a middle-aged male sat here listening to this album I can’t for one minute say I fully understand what these struggles must be like but I am aware of how unfair this world is, how unequal it is and how we all must talk about these topics, listen to as many different voices as possible and do what we can to make the world a more equal place.
These important topics are captured with some of the most gorgeous folk, country pop melodies that have been put down on record. The album opens with the title track that has vocal harmonies that will leave you feeling warm and happy inside. Gentle guitar parts that make you feel glad to be alive. A chorus that will leave an impression on everyone who hears this perfect uplifting pop song. If that’s not enough there are some incredibly powerful lyrics that will stop you dead in your tracks “How can I leave him, when he’s all that I know / She looks at me with her daddy’s eyes / you raise your hand I raise a child / she deserves more than this”.
Waiting in the Background further highlights the struggles women have faced over the decades. From being a housewife, struggling to become a career woman, the battle to find your own voice, feeling confident in who you are, fighting for equal pay and adapting to a world that is not fair. “Cos I’ve always been around / Though I shed my skin adapted / To a world that was never ever ever given to a girl”. Save Your Love treats us to some beautiful harmonies and a pedal steel guitar that holds the song together in a way that ensures this is a song that you will never forget. The lyrics further cement Tapestri’s place as a band that only an ignorant fool would be prepared to ignore “You want something more than I can give / Whisper words that I don’t want to hear / Time won’t change the way I feel for you” . These lyrics and all the words sung in this song are delivered with such honesty and raw emotion. This is song writing at its absolute best.
Crazy Crazy Times certainly had me reflecting on how I have viewed the world in recent times. I often fall guilty of referring to the time we are living through as being crazy times. Hearing Tapestri sing “These aren’t crazy crazy times stop saying that they are” made me think I need to stop worrying about the troubles in this world. Workshop is one of the most relaxing songs you are going to hear this year. I have been listening to this album all afternoon on a local walk to the Folly Tower through Pontypool park and found myself drifting off gazing out at the landscape around me and feeling at peace with the world. She’s a Lover wraps itself around you with the biggest hug you can imagine, and in so doing will make you appreciate the little things in life “she’ll open up the window just to hear the blackbird sing”.
Come Alive gives the album a rather anthemic moment. This song sounds like being reborn, a song that makes you want to get out of the house and feel ready to take on whatever challenges the world may throw at you. Y Fflam and Agofion are the two Welsh language songs on the album, showing the universal appeal of music. You don’t have to be a Welsh speaker to appreciate the genius within these songs. Open your minds and you will not be disappointed. The only song I haven’t mentioned on this great album is Genes which is such a sweet song about family and how we inherit parts of previous generations of our families and how those dear to us will live on, and it is vitally important to share stories. Let's face it life is full of stories, it is these stories that make life worth living and we must never forget to tell and remember these stories.
Tell Me World is an album that left its mark on me within the first listen, and is one that I will be returning to on a very regular basis. I hope you will join me in my love for this album, you would be very very foolish to let this one pass you by.
Tell Me World is released on Shimi Records. You can download it or buy a copy on CD from the band's Bandcamp page: Tell Me World | Tapestri (bandcamp.com)
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