Talk To Me is the kind of album that all musicians think they're going to make when they have a lot of time to jam, experiment, and make a project — except this one exists in the world and not just in the back of someone's head.

Vocally, you will not do better. Suba Sankaran and Dylan Bell are two of the powerhouses behind Autorickshaw — if you do not know their other band, stop right now and go find out — and they are laden with ridiculous amounts of talent. All the range. All the styles. Rhythm enough for your dreams.

Come Together is the rare Beatles cover with something new to say, thanks to the South Indian vocal percussion solo that ornaments a blazing performance. From here, the group shows off its Bollywood chops with a compelling take on Chaiyya Chaiyya, an A. R. Rahman number with all the expected goings on. Despite all the fireworks on top, the pulse never wavers and the singers' complementary timbres are put to glorious effect.

Conga is the big red herring at the beginning. All the tracks! All the vocals! All the everything. Honestly, it's way too much. The soprano harmonies on the choruses come across as particularly jarring to my ears. Likewise, the horn solos are fun but I would enjoy them more live than I do on this recording. On the other hand, the Latin percussion is tight and mesmerizing and saves the track from itself. Percussion later takes center stage in a fun version of Take 5, where the performers lift you up on the hook and fly you around on a cascade of solos.

Bell and Sankaran strip down to their basics for What's Going On, which is where you realize just how much they benefit from being able to cover each other across so many octaves. Sankaran's timbre is a little darker and huskier than Bell's clear tenor, which gives them the perfect opportunity to flip the script on who sings lead and who sings bass backup without it sounding contrived or artificial. Overkill takes a more multitracked approach to the same concept, bringing a straight-toned sincerity to this '80s power ballad, and on River they trade the lead with ease.

FreePlay is at peak playful on Summer In The City, with a groovy Peter, Paul and Mary-sing-a-samba vibe. I love it, honestly. I love almost all of this album. Maybe you will, too.

FreePlay is comprised of just two singers, Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran, yet their sound, both live and on their recordings, often features dense harmonies and intricately layered rhythms. They achieve this feat live through the use of looping software, technology that allows singers to perform in real time to a click or guide that only the performer can hear, and then perform, record, and layer their own voices on top of their initial performances in real time. This approach has attracted a good number of solo artists, but duos have remained one of the rarest of a cappella formations. At first blush, two people are excessive for looping, and simultaneously insufficient for most unlooped, live a cappella. Seemingly stuck between fish and fowl, the format hasn't been a major draw. Noteworthy exceptions include Germany's hysterical Hartmuth und die Hitmaschine; America's beatboxing powerhouse, Spiderhorse; and Canada's a cappella royalty and the subject of this review, FreePlay.

The group's bio proclaims, "From Bach to Bird to the Beatles … Simon and Garfunkel crossed with a Bach 2-part invention … or an acrobatic jazz melody combined with ancient Indian beats … or an 8-part vocal arrangement created by two singers … and you'll get a glimpse of what FreePlay has to offer."

Though they pride themselves on this uncommon variety, it's their even more rare connection that makes FreePlay so compelling. In every moment of music-making Bell and Sankaran display truly subtle listening and instant sympathetic response. Regardless of style or source material, they are effortlessly sympatico. (But if one must choose an example, listen to God Only Knows for utterly inspired togetherness).

Add an effortless blend, matching lyric lead vocals, generously endowed ranges, and a globe-spanning personal history that's decades long and brimming with shared cultural adventures, and you have something truly special. Singing from a place of love and mutual experience is a most precious gift for performer and listener alike. FreePlay brings this and an unmistakably refined character to all these tracks. Each line is sung just so. Each harmony carefully chosen. Each percussive noise is in its place.

In the midst of this gentle precision, leave it to an uncouth Yank to complain that the Canadians err on the overly polite side. FreePlay's music has a wealth of heart and intellect, but it could benefit from a touch more wild abandon. As one example, the Beatles classic rocker Come Together has nary a growl, shout, or vocal fry. The most aggressive vocal technique is straight-tone, non-legato singing. (Gasp!) Ever musical and creative, the arrangement's South Asian Konnakol stylings and well-placed vocal percussion (elements which enhance more than a few moments across the album) elevate this track far beyond the ordinary. But for a group willing to freely dip their feet in the pool of pop rock material, FreePlay should feel equally free to enjoy a few naughty timbral dalliances outside the silky smooth vocal jazz idiom. Try us out, FreePlay. We all just might like things a little bit more rough (vocally).

To digress momentarily, the United States is still in a period of division and heightened sensitivity to issues of racial and cultural authenticity, appropriation, and representation. And if we weren't divided of our own accord, the Russian disinformation machine has been flooding our social media with as much cultural dischord as possible. It's hard to imagine that a group as objectively inoffensive as FreePlay could cue up the slightest of these tensions, and perhaps their honey demeanor dissipates any such stirrings, but it's at least worth a mention that songs like What's Going On and even Conga might raise an eyebrow among US progressives. What lineages grant such performances a cultural nod of good taste? Are they open to all who would offer homage to their message? Or are personal, cultural bonafides a precondition to belting out these classics? Is Conga only for the Latinx? Can anyone sing Chaiyya Chaiyya? Readers, are you raising a fist in solidarity with the historically disenfrancised or rolling your eyes at wokeness gone awry? This reviewer doesn't offer any answers today, just questions from the listening party.

Returning to our heroes, FreePlay is nothing short of a magical a cappella unicorn. The duo looper status, the unwavering musical excellence, and the uniquely blended lives and influences all make Talk To Me an essential release.

Canadian duo FreePlay (Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran) created the repertoire for Talk To Me during the pandemic, when they livestreamed weekly concerts from home. These songs seem at first to be all over the map (Bollywood, the Beach Boys, and Bach — to name a few), but the group has put a lot of thought into these songs. They've posted a paragraph about each song choice on their Bandcamp page and they seem very thoughtful both about performing songs that have a deeper meaning and about bringing their own stylistic spin to songs when they can.

The result is an immediately compelling listen. Every little detail — from the sassy horn solo in Conga to the South Indian vocal percussion (solkattu) on Come Together to the wordless jazz arrangement that sounds like a conversation on Take 5 — makes this an engaging and memorable album.

The arrangements here are outstanding. God Only Knows is lilting and lovely; it's one of the highlights of the release. Summer In The City is a sultry take on the Lovin' Spoonful original and the duo's version of What's Going On is especially poignant.

Talk To Me is an interesting and compelling listen from top to bottom, but it may not be for everyone. One thing that may make it inaccessible is just the nature of the group: it's a duo, and even with studio tricks and vocal layering, there are only two voices here. If a listener is coming to this from the perspective of 15+ person collegiate groups, then this recording will sound thin. Even so, Bell and Sankaran do an incredible job with a diverse selection of source material here and this critic believes that even the most squarely contemporary a cappella ears could be tuned to appreciate something wonderful in this album. Bell and Sankaran have taken a nearly impossible task — interpret a broad array of different styles and genres using just two voices — and have executed it nearly flawlessly.