SOUNDTRACK: THOU-Tiny Desk Concert #847 (May 6, 2019).
I saw Thou play a show last year and they were loud, abrasive and intimidating. So much so that when I saw this collective of people behind the Tiny Desk, I had to double check to make sure it was the same band.
I mean, the band I saw had a male singer who growled/screamed all of the lyrics. This band had three women singing and was entirely quiet.
I had a ticket to a show recently featuring Screaming Females (who headlined for Thou last time, too) and what was listed as a rare acoustic show from Thou. I assume it must have sounded something like this.
And this is pretty awesome.
But what is going on?
The first-ever metal band at the Tiny Desk is a little bit of a head fake. Make no mistake, Thou makes some of the heaviest, most tortuous music around; but the band also constantly experiments with beautifully ornate arrangements that balance its most extreme measures. In a set culled from the acoustic-driven Inconsolable — one of six full-lengths, EPs and splits the band released last year (no, really) — Thou shows us just how crushing quiet can be.
Guitarist KC Stafford plays guitar and sings lead. The song is brooding and powerful in its slow quietness.
“This is the softest I’ve ever played,” guitarist KC Stafford told me during sound check. Yes, their downtuned guitars are turned down low at the NPR Music office, but the weight is still ever-present. Stafford takes the lead on “The Hammer” as co-vocalists Emily McWilliams (blonde) and Melissa Guion (dark hair) sing, “Bring down the hammer / A bludgeon to my shrines / Bring down the hammer / To the corpse of my worship.”
McWilliams’ more high -pitched voice is an excellent companion to Stafford’s deeper delivery.
Guion also makes ambient-pop music under the name MJ Guider and MJ Guider was the opening act for the quiet show.
Stafford played bass when I saw them. The bassist at this show, Mitch Wells, doesn’t look familiar from that night although he and rhythm guitarist Andy Gibbs are founding members (along with lead guitarist Matthew Thudium). Perhaps Mitch was not around for that tour? But he certainly brings some mirth to the proceedings. He;s wearing a crazy bright shirt (not typical for a doom metal band) and he says that playing the Tiny Desk was a big old bucket list.
Even though the band’s line up has stayed pretty consistent since they began in 2005, they have had three drummers. Tyler Coburn (who might be the reincarnation of Andy Kaufman) joined in 2018 which means I probably didn’t see him at my show.
The cryptic lyrics and melodies are largely written by Bryan Funck, who normally screams his existential despair for Thou. But for these songs and this Tiny Desk, he lurked in the audience.
So that’s where he was. Turns out that for the Inconsolable EP, he didn’t sing anything, allowing guest vocalists to sing everything.
For the second song “Come Home, You Are Missed” McWilliams sings lead. She sang on the EP as well. Guion accompanies her very nicely. For this song Stafford’s guitar seems tuned down so far you can hear the string vibrating and rumbling as she plays open chords.
The final lines, “Privacy is priceless to me” are repeated three times.
Thou’s decade-plus discography is an exercise in exploration and refinement, finding new textures in heft, which is why this set offers such a slow-burning thrill to its oeuvre.
I am now regretting even more not going to that show. I can’t get over what a different experience it would have been.
The closing cut, “The Unspeakable Oath,” lead by guitarist Matthew Thudium, is a twinkling grunge song that overlaps guitar melodies with the grace and grandiosity of a whale.
I don’t believe that Thudium ever sang when I saw them, but his voice is fantastic. He doesn’t even sing on the EP. His voice seems wasted in a screaming band.
I really like this song a lot. I like the way the verses quietly build up and then release with a simple but effective guitar riff as a segue to the next part. The final part of the song also features some interesting/creepy “ahhhs” from McWilliams and Guion which conclude the song very tidily.
[READ: May 6, 2019] “The Escape”
Eddie Prior is the protagonist of this story and he makes a grand entrance.
As the story opens, Eddie has entered the Pavilion and is heading down the grand staircase when he slips (leather dancing shoes on parquet floor). But he keeps smiling and manages to tap out the beat with each step, rescuing himself as he comes to a stop between two striking women. Both women are named Millie and both are embarrassed by his attention.
The blonde Millie is dismissive. The brunette Millie is embarrassed, but finds him handsome. Later she agrees to dance with him and a year later agrees to marry him.
As with another recent New Yorker story, this one jumps ahead quickly. There are children, a war, and bitter words but through it all they are Catholic, so they just get on with it. (more…)
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I saw Kevin Devine open for Frightened Rabbit back in 2017. I didn’t know his music, but I really enjoyed his solo set. When I heard that he was doing this tour with John K. Samson I was really excited to see him again. I had hoped he’d be with His Goddman Band, but it turned out to be solo again. I kind of assumed it would be with the band because of the new piece of merch (below) which I love but can’t imagine where you’d wear.
I Just Read About That... 