O, the third record from Tilly and the Wall, is a throwback to the stomp-along indie rock girl groups of the late '90s and early 2000s. Evoking early Le Tigre, “Cold Cold Water”-era Mirah, and Tracy + The Plastics singles with its girl-girl harmonies, echo-y percussion (actually the amplified tap-dancing of Jamie Williams), and not-quite-intimidating aggression (even when they threaten to “burn this motherfucker down,” it seems more an overflow of exuberance than real anger), O might as well come on a candy-colored 7 inch.
In fact, Tilly and the Wall is one of those groups, having sprung from the Omaha scene in the very early part of this decade. But where their former contemporaries have mostly collapsed under the weight of their own preciousness or strident politics, Tilly and the Wall have managed to stay productive and committed to making shout-along pop songs for almost a decade (perhaps because two of its members, Derek Pressnall and Jamie Williams, are married? It seems to keep Mates of State motivated, as well). Their latest record is an arresting, captivating piece of pop that makes me hope they can continue hanging around.
O begins with more of a sigh than a shout with the beautiful and mournful—if totally out of place— “Tall Tall Grass.” A down-tempo song about loss and confusion, it's the most straightforward and emotionally evocative on the record. Distortion-heavy guitars press up against the delicate vocals of Neely Jenkins as she sings about being lost and confused, seeking refuge in rock and roll from a world of uncertainty.
Or, at least, I think that's what the song is about. As with much of the album, the lyrics are what Sasha Frere-Jones calls “free-floating slogans” in his review of Coldplay's Viva La Vida—evocative, symbolic, but mostly random strings of sentences. While a few of the lines might go together, they're mostly unrelated; we go from the song's narrator hiding outside her house as a child, to her taking refuge in rock and roll, to talking about snow covering the world. Individually, they don't mean much, but taken together with each other and the doleful piano lines they balance on top of, they add up to one sad, beautiful song.
The template for the rest of the record is set on the next song, “Pot Kettle Black.” The tap-percussion here sounds more like the clapping and stomping of a gym-full of riled-up 13-year-olds. This mood is supported by the nasty, satirical lyrics about the virtues of hating the haters, whatever that might mean to you. There's even a “Baby Got Back”-style break where two girls talk to each other about “what a ho, what a tramp, what a slut” some unnamed third girl is. We can only assume they're speaking of“one of those rap guy's girlfriends.” It's pure fun that would be blaring from every high school girl's iPod if the music industry operated at all fairly.
Things proceed in more or less this style for the remainder of the album. Songs mostly stay uptempo and under the three-minute mark, full of shout-alongs and clanging piano. Standouts include the new-millennium power pop of “Dust Me Off,” and the swirling, echo-y masterpiece “Blood Flower.” The penultimate track, “Poor Man's Ice Cream” has some of the best music and most baffling non-sequitur lyrics of the whole record ("Whose land are you standing on?/Lines, lines, lines/Poor man's ice cream! Poor man's ice cream!”). You can't do much but grin, shake your head, and dance along.
O is, at heart, a fun pop record for people who might listen to Avril Lavinge if she was just slightly less objectionable. It's got a punk spirit that's ultimately harmless—like a teenager who just NEEDS to be FREE . . . to use any color Manic Panic they want. It's packed with jams, and over before you know it, leaving you yearning for more. With this type of record, that's high praise.
Artist:
www.tillyandthewall.com
myspace.com/officialtillyandthewall
Download:
“Pot Kettle Black” from O – [mp3]
“Cacophony” from O – [mp3]
Album:
Tilly and the Wall – O is out now. Buy it on Amazon.
