SOUNDTRACK: TIGERS JAW-Tiny Desk Concert #629 (June 19, 2017).
I was in a sub shop the other day and saw a poster for Tigers Jaw playing (somewhat) locally. That was pretty neat as I had just seen that they played a Tiny Desk Concert. I hadn’t heard of them, but I was pretty excited to think that bands are willing to put up fliers around here.
The blurb says that the band “at one point, made yelping and earnest pop-punk before finding its way to intricate, and melancholy, pop.”
After the lineup shake-up three years ago, Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins both step into larger roles as the primary songwriters and singers, here playing songs from spin [their debut] stripped down to an acoustic guitar and keyboard.
They play three songs.
On “Guardian” the melodies are fantastic. I love the simple but powerful keys that occasionally play over Ben’s strummed guitars. And his chord choices are really interesting and unconventional. He has a really good voice and when she sings her harmonies during the chorus it’s really very lovely.
On “June,” Brianna takes over lead vocals and there’s some more prominent piano in the verse as swell. Her lead vocal voice sounds like a whole bunch of 1990’s female singers that I love and this song feels like it could easily have come from that era–Ben’s deeper harmonies are a nice addition.
“Window” has as simple but pretty piano. They sing a duet and sound great together.
There’s nothing new or outrageous about this band. They just play pretty music and sound great doing it.
[READ: December 15, 2010] “The Yellow”
I really enjoy a character who is judgmental and insecure. And that’s what we get here.
The story begins with coyotes and babies, but it’s really about a woman, a recent mother, who is concerned about her marriage. And a whole lot more.
She states:
Every real thing started life as an idea. I’ve imagined objects and moments into existence. I’ve made humans. I tip taxi-drivers ten, twenty dollars every time they don’t rape me.
But what has been keeping her up at night is that it has been 8 months since she and her husband had sex. She quips, “I had great hopes that the threat of Lyme disease would revitalize our sex life: will you check me for ticks.” But sadly for her, Lyme disease never really took off in California as it did on the West Coast. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 