Issue #42 - The Protest IssueTilly & the Wall
Heavy Mood
Team Love
Oct 01, 2012
Tilly & the Wall
Four years is a long time. After releasing three albums from 2004 to 2008, Tilly & the Wall took a bit of a break following 2008’s O. During this time, three of the band members married and had children, while the other two moved to Los Angeles from the band’s home base in Omaha, Nebraska. What has reemerged from this self-imposed hiatus is an album that is quite different from any of its predecessors, one that will no doubt surprise fans of the band’s other albums.
Heavy Mood doesn’t waste any time ushering in Tilly & the Wall’s new sound. The opening track and first single, “Love Riot,” begins with a scream and guitar groove, leading into aggressive, shouted vocals. The track is practically menacing in its intensity and violent vigor. The album’s next track, “Heavy Mood,” is a fast-paced, electronic-infused dance-floor jam that is very much an outlier in the Tilly & the Wall catalog. The jubilant “Baby Guns” recalls the band’s past work in terms of its upbeat nature but features lines like “Let’s blow this town and get high.” Elsewhere, “I Believe in You” is a pretty but tearful reminiscence of days past, and “Shannie” features a more beguiling lyrical sentiment (choice lyric: “You and me would fuck some bitches up/like they’d ever dare to step to us”). Even the song “Hey Rainbow,” which one would think from its title would yield some respite, is in fact a minor key lament with stark instrumentation.
Heavy Mood is a curious addition to Tilly & the Wall’s body of work. At times the band’s past glories are referenced, such as with the exuberant “Static Expression.” But whereas the previous three Tilly & the Wall albums always featured a certain pop-wise innocence, despite whatever eccentricities they might also feature, Heavy Mood is mostly devoid of such. In this case, the album title is completely appropriate.
Author rating: 5/10
Average reader rating: 6/10
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Comments
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October 1st 2012
12:32pm
It’s really hard to take a review seriously when they have two of the song titles wrong.
October 1st 2012
5:31pm
JP, thanks for reading. In fact, “Baby Guns” and “Shannie” were the original song names, and the correct names when the review was written and ultimately submitted for our Protest Issue. Thank you for pointing out that they have since changed. It will be updated in the review. Thanks again.—Frank Valish
October 2nd 2012
1:10am
It’s incredible how subjective music can be. I thought this album showed an evolution in Tilly & The Wall’s music and that the energy and power it transmits is something they weren’t able to achieve in their previous albums. If I would have to rate it, I’d probably give it an 8.
October 2nd 2012
1:17am
It’s incredible how subjective music can be. I thought this album was an evolution in their music and that they were able to transmit the energy and power they could never achieved in their previous albums.