Many times when a new artist, especially young ones, put out an album, they can create good music, but always have plenty of room for maturity. I can't remember the last time I haven't heard this being the case. Well, that is... until I spun Larue's self-titled debut album.

Larue is made up of the talented brother/sister duo Philip and Natalie Larue. The former being 17, and the latter 15. And at these ripe young ages, their voices are more incredible than most older vocalists around. Although Philip's voice tends to show his age at times, showing his need to mature yet a bit, Natalie's is near perfect and incredible for her youthfulness. "As She Cries" is just one of the examples of songs that exhibit her talents.

Some of their songs do occasionally drift to produce a more youthful feel, most notable in the chorus of "Fallen King," the theme alone in "Someday," as well as other parts of some of the other tunes. An album highlight is "Stars," which seems to be completely opposite all the other songs on the album in the sense that it's the darkest song in sound and theme while the others carry a more upbeat sound and theme.

The Larue sibs are a rare find and I'm excited to see what these kids dish out in their sophomore release later this year.

- Review date: 4/2/00, written by John DiBiase