4/7
Home town heros of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Tallows is back with Waist Deep after a brief hiatus while man bunned front man Josh Hogsett was abroad. Waist Deep is Tallow’s second full length album after their 2013 release Memory Marrow and there seems to be energy from the water motif that is present throughout the record.If you look at Tallow's band webpage home page you'll see a loop of synchronized swimmers that frankly suits the album in a quirky and engaging manner.
Waist Deep is album of both ends of the spectrum. Both chaotic and calm. Both soothing and aggressive. It holds you captivated and occasionally startled by the 180 degree turns that it can spin. An opening track that sprinkles slowly like the first rain of the springtime with a synth that trudges through creating a surface for the frenzied vocal loops that emerge. For a four piece band Tallows sounds full. Layering on rhythms and harmonies - adding to the seemingly uncontrolled but measured chaos.
The entire album has hectic cacophonies that materialize out of the laid back base line. “Shrink” retains the bizarre but appearing sound of water droplets that were showcased in the first track. “Sprawl” which was the lead single of Waist Deep is a calming ballad that lulls like a sailboat on a shallow sea. It is elegant and slow burning, like the moments before you fall asleep. This track is a collaboration with Samantha Crain, along with her personal discography she has collaborated with Ali Harter, Matt Hopper and Bloomington’s own Murder By Death. The next track “The Dead Sea” brings back the electro-pop rain drops that have become so familiar throughout the album. The intro to “I Can Feel You Looking at Me” builds an exciting exotic instrumental dream that is infectious in attitude. Unfortunately the vocalist that cuts in occasionally sounds like Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse put on an odd affected accent in one of their grittier songs. The album closes out with the 6.5 min long "CLORA" which has humming guitars that trimble at the speed of of a humming bird.
The track list is as follows:
- When Your Clothes Still Fit
- Shrink
- Birdbath etc.
- Waist Deep
- Sprawl (feat. Samantha Crain)
- The Dead Sea
- I Can Feel You Looking at Me
- Longlegs
- Generalism
- CLORA
Listen to their song "Shrink" below:
