Distractions - Tindersticks: Review
Tindersticks
are a British experimental chamber rock band who made a number of essential experimental rock records in the 90's and have maintained an experimental sound in the decades since as a Stuart Staples led project. The band found late stage critical acclaim in 2016 on The Waiting Room and are continuing to experiment, evident by the two singles from the record being a deep cut Television Personalities cover, and the records 11 minute opener.
Review By Lav:
Anyone who knows Tindersticks knows that they are experimental, envelope pushing and boundary expanding within the world of British rock music and have been for a few decades now. Even given their history, and that they've continued to experiment late in their career, Distractions is still impressively weird at nearly every turn.
Despite being nearly 50 minutes long there are only 7 tracks in the mix on this record. The first two and last two tracks are originals with 3 covers laid in-between. Man Alone is the opening track and was released as a surprise single a few weeks ago. Man Alone is a strange, sonically ominous 11 minute fitting introduction to the record making it pretty weird right out of the gate. The first passage is a reserved and pretty minimal chamber piece with short loops of instrumentation and a hooky refrain. After that it all really hits the fan with a long passage of vocal repetition backed by car horns and rhythmic clapping that eventually returns to an even more minimal take on the songs core refrain. It's at that point on the song where it starts to sound like some surreal downtempo electronica with sequenced drums and the vocals played on tight loops. The only complaint I have about the track is that the "can't stop the fadin" refrain that gets repeated to transition between passages can get really annoying. I Imagine You is in stark contrast as a spacious abstract spoken word ballad. Stuart's vocals are often whispered and only sometimes sneak into slightly louder performance styles, but the subtleties to his singing are still captivating. The songs eerie poetics paint a pretty captivating narrative but my main issue with the song is that most of its instrumental instrumentation comes in at the same time with backing keys and extra sounds worked into the mix. This makes all the other moments on the song feel particularly empty and long-winded.
Tue-Moi is a track with the lyrics delivered entirely in french but from what I can tell it seems to be thematically related to moving on from someone or something manifested as that person killing you to set you free of the relationship. The lyrics lend credence to the stark sound of the track which relies entirely on Stuart's vocals and piano playing. While the composition or performance don't necessarily blow me away I do love the songs absolutely isolated feel. The Bough Bends is a 9 and a half minute closing track that once again makes heavy use of spoken word vocals. It features long verses and stretched out instrumental development backing some of the vivid metaphors written into the tracks story while also explaining part of the records "distractions" theme. I wish the vocals had as meaningful a change as the instrumental does throughout the 10 minutes. Stuart's very dry and straight-forward performance never switches up and is only occasionally helped out by bellowing supporting vocals. The song is another strikingly unique moment although maybe not the most compelling.
The trio of tracks in the middle of the record are all covers and they achieve varying levels of success. Lady With The Braid is a Dory Previn revision and while I like the steady drumming, everything else about the instrumental feels like its underselling it. I also with there were more interesting vocal refrains being delivered given that the track is 7 minutes long, it doesn't do a great job holding my interest. A Man Needs A Maid sees the band recruiting Gina Foster to cover a Neil Young track. I think the minimalist version of the song being made in 2021 should have some kind of ironic appeal to it but it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the bands intentions are. The instrumental has some wandering keys and a steady bassline leading a detailed roster of captivating sounds resulting in one of the records most direct tracks. Finally You'll Have To Scream Louder originally comes to us from the Television Personalities and is my favorite of both the original versions of these tracks as well as the Tindersticks covers. The song works much better in the bands style that I would have anticipated with the reserved snarky vocals fitting perfectly with the anti-establishment lyricism. The instrumental is one of the most lively things I've heard the band do in a long time and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this cover.
Distractions is weird. It takes a minimalist approach to experimentalism, even though nothing here will sound too loud or grating for anyone that doesn't mean it isn't strange, surreal and often unsettling. While the effectiveness of this is largely dependent on songwriting when it works it works really well. Ultimately it's hard for me to complain about a band continuing to sound this experimental and interesting decades into their career, even if not every experiment works out. 6/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
