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Some music takes a little bit more effort to get into. Tally Hall may be that kind of music for a lot of people. Any given song may go off in multiple directions, often with different sections seemingly just stitched together like a musical patchwork quilt. But coming to Tally Hall is worth the effort. Their two albums contain unusual yet infectious material that really defies categorization. Does the within-song style changes featured in “Good Day” remind me of Queen? Sure, sort of. But that doesn’t really do it justice. The closest band I can think of to compare them to is The Residents, but only because they too were quirky in a ‘performance art’ sort of way.
You get the picture from the start of “Good Day,” a song from their 2005 debut album Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum: the robot-like harmony vocals float over a propulsive piano hook, only to resolve into a dream-like interlude that is then interrupted by yet another stylistic change, and so on. To their credit, Tally Hall manage to make shifting musical gears not sound abrupt.
Sacred Beast
2011’s Good and Evil (now on a major label – Atlantic), features more of the same quirkiness in songs like “&,” “Turn the Lights Off” and “Fate of the Stars,” but also includes a number of more straight-up pop rock songs like “You and Me,” and “Cannibal.” Somewhere in between are two particularly strong tracks, the 1960s-ish “Sacred Beast” and the story song “Misery Fell.” Tally Hall are a bit off the beaten path but worth the trip. They also produced 10 episodes of a hilarious internet show, all available for viewing on the Tally Hall website.
One of the reasons I was keen to start this blog was to be able to feature immensely talented people like Northern Ireland’s Daveit Ferris. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, Ferris set himself the task of releasing a song a day for the entire year of 2015. To put this into perspective, even the highly productive Beatles only penned 250 songs over an eight-year period! The back story to this project is that a few years ago Ferris was struck with a life threatening illness. Upon recovery he vowed to waste no more time and dedicate himself to his creative arts, which includes music and poetry. His 365 Sparks project – presently up to song 214 – is the result.
I discovered Good Old War via the single “Broken Record,” released in advance of their most recent album Broken Into Better Shape. I loved it! It had a zany, somewhat frantic arrangement and a host of great melodic hooks, punctuated by background vocals right out of a Schoolhouse Rocks segment. Additionally, as someone often accused of being a ‘broken record,’ it was fun to revisit a term that has become increasingly anachronistic with the eclipse of vinyl. But the song left me wondering if the band might be little more than a novelty act. A perusal of their back catalogue suggested not.
Come of Age is a bit more stark, addressing Britain’s economic and social malaise in “No Hope,” “Weirdo,” “All in Vain,” and “Lonely World.” The album draws creatively from 1950s sources, particularly on the vocals for songs like “Lonely World” and “Teenage Icon”. In 2013 they released an EP, Melody Calling, marking a departure into a more dreamy pop style on the title track. This year’s English Graffiti takes all these previous elements but combines them into a more solid, confident sound, ranging from dreamy pop (“Denial”), to solid singalong fun (“Handsome”), to up front guitar riffing (“20/20”).
Poprock Record 