AMG Review of Way We Are

Erik Crawford
All Music Guide

The husband and wife duo Fleming & John wrote, produced, and recorded their second album, The Way We Are, in their home studio. This kind of intimacy and control shines as the songs take the listener through the various stages of a relationship including flirtation, infatuation, love, jealousy, and, eventually, breakup. John Painter plays everything from guitar to flugelhorn to something called a spacephone. Painter's proficiency in a plethora of instruments is matched note for note by the diversity and range of Fleming McWilliam's angelic vocals. The Way We Are exemplifies the band's heterogeneous qualities with the quirky "I'm So Small,," the guitar- and string-driven "The Pearl," and the lazy mood inducing "Rain All Day," a re-worked carry over from their first album, Delusions of Grandeur. "Ugly Girl," the first single from the album, pits comical lyrics about jealousy against a xylophone-laden melody. There are no limits to where Fleming & John can go musically and vocally, allowing them to create a collage of unique songs that are truly their own sound.