For the last few months, Tom Burtless a.k.a. "Tom Eats" has been taunting us with his upcoming release. After the demise of one of my personal favorite Buffalo bands, All Blondes Go To Heaven (RIP), and their subsequent project, Jr. Elevator, I've been on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what's coming next from the ABGTH/JRE crew. Certain members have moved on to similar projects like, I Can See Mountains, Buffalo's resident indie-punk supergroup. As for Burtless, he's been hard at work at something a little bit different. Tom Eats has cooked up (see what I did there) a new solo project, something he calls Humble Braggers. This time he's traded the cathartic emo of All Blondes for something reverb-soaked and ambient.
Burtless calls his four-song offering, Safe Haven. After listening to these songs all week, I began to wonder if Safe Haven was possibly had a deeper meaning... Some sort of moniker to let us know that Burtless considers his new project something he's a little more "comfortable" (for lack of a better word) with. Even if I'm way off with the title, I can at least pick out a few musical influences. Humble Braggars takes a little bit of MGMT/Joywave and pairs it with Burtless' genre-hopping voice. I could definitely imagine him working in a number of different genres, but this ambient indie-rock persona is just fine.
"Do You Know Anything?" kicks off the EP, quickly making it clear that the heart-on-your-sleeve emo of All Blondes is a thing of the past. Besides being a well-written and an enjoyable batch of songs, perhaps what is most impressive about Safe Haven is Burtless' ability to jump from genre to genre without flinching. Burtless' music sounds confident, whereas All Blondes had a "messy in the best way, and yet, so, endearing" kind of approach. Humble Braggers trades the mile-a-minute complexity of their lyrics and instrumentation for something much more simplified. The guitars here are especially notable in this regard. They may only be playing single notes at points, but it's a hooky riff, and it's swimming in effect laden reverb. Even Burtless' lyrics are simpler, sounding distant, behind a wall of haze. Where almost everything in All Blondes' catalog sounded raw, everything here on Safe Haven sounds huge and polished.
"What's Fair" might be the record's standout track. Burtless trades hooks with himself throughout, dueling a guitar riff and catchy vocal line. For what it's worth, he capitalized on this new less-is-more approach to songwriting. "What's Fair" is what I would consider the blueprint of a Humble Braggers song and Burtless is very good at letting his listeners know exactly what's important about his songs from the get go. There's never any question about which part of any given song is vying for the spotlight. The same holds true for "Escape," which initially follows in the vein of "What's Fair." While "What's Fair" is a little more subdued, Burtless really lets loose in "Escape." In fact, some of Safe Haven's heaviest moments are here. Humble Braggers isn't a 103.3 the Edge band (that's a good thing, I promise), but this is the moment on Safe Haven where we hear huge cymbal hits, and some heavier rock-influenced riffs that you might expect on rock radio.
By the time you hit the last song on Safe Haven, you realize that Burtless really has a hold on what he is doing. "Thought Me So" is the slowest of the four songs, but it's full of huge guitar swells, swimmy walls of delay, and Tom's soaring voice. It's a triumphant moment; it's never a fun process when bands implode. When its members need to find new projects or reinvent themselves, someone inevitably loses their motivation or creative drive. In Burtless' case, he wrote "Thought Me So," and more importantly, Safe Haven. "Thought Me So" is an epic closer to an EP proving Burtless is a welcome part of the Buffalo music scene, regardless of genre.
Burtless calls his four-song offering, Safe Haven. After listening to these songs all week, I began to wonder if Safe Haven was possibly had a deeper meaning... Some sort of moniker to let us know that Burtless considers his new project something he's a little more "comfortable" (for lack of a better word) with. Even if I'm way off with the title, I can at least pick out a few musical influences. Humble Braggars takes a little bit of MGMT/Joywave and pairs it with Burtless' genre-hopping voice. I could definitely imagine him working in a number of different genres, but this ambient indie-rock persona is just fine.
"Do You Know Anything?" kicks off the EP, quickly making it clear that the heart-on-your-sleeve emo of All Blondes is a thing of the past. Besides being a well-written and an enjoyable batch of songs, perhaps what is most impressive about Safe Haven is Burtless' ability to jump from genre to genre without flinching. Burtless' music sounds confident, whereas All Blondes had a "messy in the best way, and yet, so, endearing" kind of approach. Humble Braggers trades the mile-a-minute complexity of their lyrics and instrumentation for something much more simplified. The guitars here are especially notable in this regard. They may only be playing single notes at points, but it's a hooky riff, and it's swimming in effect laden reverb. Even Burtless' lyrics are simpler, sounding distant, behind a wall of haze. Where almost everything in All Blondes' catalog sounded raw, everything here on Safe Haven sounds huge and polished.
"What's Fair" might be the record's standout track. Burtless trades hooks with himself throughout, dueling a guitar riff and catchy vocal line. For what it's worth, he capitalized on this new less-is-more approach to songwriting. "What's Fair" is what I would consider the blueprint of a Humble Braggers song and Burtless is very good at letting his listeners know exactly what's important about his songs from the get go. There's never any question about which part of any given song is vying for the spotlight. The same holds true for "Escape," which initially follows in the vein of "What's Fair." While "What's Fair" is a little more subdued, Burtless really lets loose in "Escape." In fact, some of Safe Haven's heaviest moments are here. Humble Braggers isn't a 103.3 the Edge band (that's a good thing, I promise), but this is the moment on Safe Haven where we hear huge cymbal hits, and some heavier rock-influenced riffs that you might expect on rock radio.
By the time you hit the last song on Safe Haven, you realize that Burtless really has a hold on what he is doing. "Thought Me So" is the slowest of the four songs, but it's full of huge guitar swells, swimmy walls of delay, and Tom's soaring voice. It's a triumphant moment; it's never a fun process when bands implode. When its members need to find new projects or reinvent themselves, someone inevitably loses their motivation or creative drive. In Burtless' case, he wrote "Thought Me So," and more importantly, Safe Haven. "Thought Me So" is an epic closer to an EP proving Burtless is a welcome part of the Buffalo music scene, regardless of genre.
0 comments
Post a Comment