Tell Me What You Miss the Most by Tasha | Album Review
Tasha’s sophomore album takes the Chicago through the throws of heartbreak and healing.
Tasha Viets-VanLear is a Chicago based indie artist whose debut album, Alone At Last, was released in 2018. The short album introduced use to the soft yet soulful songwriting that she had to offer. In working on her follow up, she wanted to hone her craft by experimenting with different tunings and techniques to add depth to her sound. Tasha says that the core of the writing process for this record was “born from this desire to get back to an intimacy, or honesty, with myself.” The album’s central theme revolves around heartbreak and moving forward after coming to terms with this loss. Each song builds off the other to create this chronological pattern of grief and acceptance. I also appreciate hearing another LGBTQ+ voice in the singer/songwriter genre.
The album opens with the soft plucking of Tasha’s electric guitar on “Bed Song 1”. She told Consequence Sound the following around the genesis of this track:
“Like many of the songs I write, this one started out as just a guitar part recorded in my room on a voice memo (I think the first one was titled ‘plucky thing EBEG#BE’). It was January of 2020, and I was working through the dissolution of a relationship. The lyrics came to me in pieces the next night, and were inspired by feelings of loss and remembering — that reaching for warm, sweet tendrils of what you used to have with someone, but no longer feel anywhere near to.”
Tasha keeps the song rather intimate as she waxes on a relationship that once was, “Hey I dare you/ Tell me what you miss the most/ Is it naps in sandy beds brown bodies close?/ Let’s try once more/ Give me one warm August night/ In that blue dark we’ll forget to cry and fight.” The atmosphere of the song really accentuates the quiet sorrow Tasha feels over the loss of this love.
“History” is a soft waltz accentuated by the warm hum of Tasha’s electric guitar. The tonal shift in the song’s bridge to a minor melody gives it just enough drama to really brighten it up. The theme of heartbreak continues as Tasha grabbles with the hole that this loss has left in her world, “Did I not prove to you how far I’d go?/ Why can’t we just laugh?/ Pretend this is just a game we play/ I’m not ready yet/ To meet a stranger with your name.” By the song’s second verse, she has begun to ruminate on moving forward through the pain the being alone.
Tasha gives “Perfect Wife” a gentle swaying motion between her jaunty guitar work and the movement of the drums. I’m glad that the flutes and backing vocals are here as I think the song could be a little stale without them. Tasha told Consequence the lyrics came rather quickly to this song:
“Lyrically, the chorus came first, and bubbled out of me quickly and easily in one sitting. I don’t have any other songs this fast-paced, or ‘pop-y,’ so to speak, so I really leaned into the giddy, pulsing momentum of this song. It all felt extremely fun and cathartic. I’m certain every lesbian has called someone they love their ‘perfect wife’ at some point, even if just in their head. In the midst of a turbulent, sad time in my life, all I needed was this anthem, this sweet excuse to shout from the rooftops, ‘You’re such a perfect wife!’ — regardless of if she was real or not.”
She has this pained desperation around trying to claw back life into this failed relationship. There’s a earnest sadness to Tasha’s hope that her girlfriend will see good they are for one another.
We get a halo of soft light pouring through “Sorry’s Not Enough”. The soft hum of the organ really makes the song glow. It’s quite the slow burn. By the back section it really comes to life with layers of vocals. We’ve made it into the anger portion of this loss. Tasha chastises herself falling back into the same patterns of naivety and recklessness around her love life, “How come I’ve not grown up?/ Could it be I’ve not learned to care?/ Even when I’m held so much/ How come I can’t keep them there?” The eruption of sound comes with Tasha’s need to sleep on guilt she feels and go in anew the next day.
By our half way point we come to the short intermission of “Love Interlude”. I really like the calming sounds of wind chimes & ocean waves married with Tasha’s hushed spoken words and acoustic guitar. She speaks on how her girlfriend said that maybe in another time and place they would be good to each other. I like that she ends it with the opportunity for growth, “There was really no other answer but her/ And her love/ Her wanting was the end and the beginning.” After working through the pain heartache, this gives the listener the place look forward to the future.
While I enjoy the calm air of “Dream Still”, I feel it has too much in common sonically with “Perfect Wife” to really stand out. Again, the flutter of flutes are a nice addition. It just feels a little flat throughout. I also find some of the dissonance of Tasha’s harmonies to be a little off putting. I have a similar feeling to the lyrical nature of the song. I feel like the yearning hopeful feeling over this lost relationship has already been address in some of the prior songs before the album’s interlude.
The second song to include Tasha’a acoustic guitar work comes with “Burton Island”. The earthy qualities of her plucked playing style work wonderfully paired with her layered vocals. It reminds me warm hues of a sunset on the horizon. Tasha told Consequence that this was the last song written for the album:
“This was the very last song I wrote for the album, while on a camping trip with my family and close family friends on Burton Island in Vermont. It was a magical trip — we had to row in to the island with all of our gear piled into a rowboat and a canoe, and our campsite sat right on the island’s rocky shoreline. I had my guitar with me, and tuned it to a completely random tuning one day, and wrote this in one sitting while perched on a rock, watching the water. This is the most sparse song arrangement on the record, with only guitar and vocals (Eric insisted we keep it that way), and I think after the blankets of sound we’re given from the whole first half of the record, it really sweeps in like a breath of fresh air. The nature sounds at the very end are lifted from a video I took while hiking the island one afternoon.”
In moving forward, she seeks to find a moment of joy (even if fleeting) to reinvigorate herself again. I like that this sparse song gives Tasha a moment of pause to feel happy again.
“Lake Superior” continues with a more rustic sound. I love the momentum that both her acoustic guitar and the drums give the song. It’s rich while feeling organic. The strings bring a warm breeze to the sonic landscape. This sound meshes wonderfully with Tasha’s supportive appreciation of her mother’s strength. She told Consequence the story in the song is based off the real life spreading of her grandmother’s ashes:
“The story inside of this song is taken quite directly from real-life events. After my grandma on my mom’s side died, my family drove up to my mom’s hometown — Lake Superior, Wisconsin — with my grandma’s ashes, to scatter them in the water. This song is a reflection on that time, years later, and my way of saying to my mom what I didn’t know how to say then. It’s meant to be a balm, a comfort for her in her grief, but maybe also for anyone in the throes of missing someone, and having to say goodbye. Also I’m so in love with the violin parts Macie [Stewart, of Chicago rock band Ohmme] wrote for this song (and for ‘Bed Song 1’) — it’s been a dream of mine to have strings on a song and she captured the feeling so perfectly.”
She reaches out to her mother in both appreciation of her composure and in comfort in her time of mourning, “Wish I told you/ You’re the bravest one of us all.” I really like this moment of tenderness that this song provides.
“Year From Now” has the most grit to it. I love that low hum of the bass line mixed with Tasha’s bright electric guitar melody. I think this song would be a bit dull without this sense of motion. The song finally gives us the space to heal and move forward, “And you’ve spun out wonders from your love/ Whisper this and know that it’s true/ Tasha, you’re brighter than you’ve ever been.” The movement of the song’s tempo gives us the opportunity to move past the sorrow of the front half of the album.
The final song, “Bed Song 2”, has an almost sleepy quality. The hushed tones of Tasha’s voice against the gentle rocking of her plucked acoustic guitar lull you off to sleep. It brings to mind street lights coming to life has the last strands of color leave the evening sky. We come full circle here. She has moved past the pain of an empty bed and now embraces the peace she gets with being along, “I’d prefer to sleep in a bed my own/ At least for some time ’til I can feel whole/ I’ve forgotten what loneliness allows/ Brings a sweetness near, only I can rouse.” I really like how both “Bed Song 1” and “Bed Song 2” book end the album.
Compared to her first album, Alone At Last, this outing leans more singer/songwriter than R&B influenced. Tasha does a fantastic job running a very cohesive theme heartbreak, sorrow, and healing from start to end of the album. The only song I thin feels out of place is “Dream Still”. I feel like both sonically and lyrically it moves us backwards rather than forward. That aside, Tasha’s soft singer/songwriter sound is made for a quiet cry over a break up. If you enjoyed her first album or are a fan of mellow indie-rock with a queer perspective, then this is the album for you. My overall thoughts on Tell Me What You Miss the Most:
Loved it: “Bed Song 1”, “History”, “Burton Island”, “Lake Superior”, “Year From Now”
Liked it: “Perfect Wife”, “Sorry’s Not Enough”, “Love Interlude”, “Bed Song 2”
Disliked it: “Dream Still”
My overall rating: 7.0 out of 10.
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