Tilly And The Wall 'Bottoms Of Barrels' album

Tilly & the Wall burst quietly onto the American music scene two years back with ‘Wild Like Children’, an album of rambunctious, rabble-rousing songs in honour of youthful exuberance in all its manifestations.

Recorded for nothing in a friend’s basement in Omaha, Nebraska, the record drew early attention through the patronage of friend Conor Oberst (who started his label Team Love to release it) and the fact that the band had a tap dancer instead of a drummer. Neither of the facts turned out be anything like the most interesting things about Tilly & the Wall.

People may have come because they were curious, but they stayed because Tilly really were winding down the windows on the air-conditioned nightmare of modern American music. There is a timeless quality to Tilly & the Wall that references back to both The Ronettes ‘Be My Baby’ and the Ramones excellent cover version of the same in equal measure. Here was a group who instinctively understood Girl Groups, the long shadow of Phil Spector and how being dumb can sometimes be the smartest option.

Beyond the silly name, the percussive novelty and no-fi production, Tilly & the Wall slowly got themselves a reputation as a band who actually meant something and wrote songs suggesting that life was way more interesting, colourful and complex than could be explained away by Rock Star: Supernova, or the career clichés of a hundred complaint rock millionaires.

By deliberately appealing to the highest common denominator, and having a ball while doing it, Tilly & the Wall captured both the questing abandonment and philosophical seriousness of adolescence. When kids play let’s pretend with nihilism it’s not because they don’t want to believe in anything

This poetic aggrandising of youth is at the heart of Tilly & the Wall, just as it is at heart of much of the greatest rock’n’roll music ever made. And, as with ‘Wild Like Children’, the sense of cosmic wonder at being alive and how to best squander its opportunities pervades the band’s second album, ‘Bottoms of Barrels’.

Recorded in a proper studio (??) with a real producer (???), ‘Bottoms of Barrels’ fulfils all the potential titled at by ‘Wild Like Children’. The best and most heartening news is that Tilly & the Wall have emerged as some of the classiest songwriters operating anywhere. Both lyrically and musically ‘Bottoms of Barrels’ constantly surprises, with all five members contributing a stunning array of ideas that fit together to form a folksy patchwork of Tillyness.

Biography

Tilly and the Wall sprang out of Omaha, NE a Midwestern band of like-minded friends with pockets full of melodies .and a lot of pockets. The serendipitous result of five Omaha residents with a penchant for the same classic 60s pop, boy/girl harmonies and Americana folk records, Tilly and the Wall celebrates the petulant, determined, feisty nature of youth. They rejoice in tales of dreams followed, mistakes made, and hearts broken.

Tilly and the Wall has five members: Jamie (tap dancer/percussionist), Kianna (vocals), Nick (keyboards), Neely (vocals) and Derek (guitar/vocals). They released their debut album, Wild Like Children, in June 2004 on Conor Oberst s label, Team Love. Neely and Jamie were once in a band with Conor before he became known worldwide as Bright Eyes. Derek and Nick moved to Omaha from Atlanta, Georgia. Upon meeting, it was as if long-lost friends had found each other: without a doubt, the Tillys were born. Once the songs were written, Conor agreed to helm the production duties, and hence, Wild Like Children was unleashed on the world. As one of the first albums released on Team Love, Tilly and the Wall set a precedent for the label s identity: original, smart, exciting and, above all, easy to sing along to. The record consisted of 11 perfectly formed songs bursting with enthusiastic hyperactivity, while emanating a bitter sweet melancholy of long lost summers and misguided first loves. In front of a backdrop of sunshine, rain and snow, Tilly and the Wall sang songs about loving & kissing, dancing & drinking, staying & leaving, driving & talking, sleeping & dreaming, all set to the tap-tap-tapping of Jamie s toes. The press from sea to shining sea fell in love instantly.

And so, the Tillys went to meet their adoring fans, playing shows throughout America with the likes of Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, The Go! Team, Pedro the Lion, Of Montreal and more. When not on the road, the band began working on the follow-up to Wild Like Children, simply titled Bottoms of Barrels. Recorded over three weeks in October and November 2005, the album was recorded by AJ Mogis, brother and mixed by studio co-hort to Bright Eyes Mike Mogis. Bottoms of Barrels sees the Tillys taking their signature sound to the next level. The choruses are more rousing, the tapping more intense, the instrumentation fuller, each sound painting broad brushstrokes across your speakers. Longtime friend Nate Walcott contributes a bit of trumpet, while other friends have added drums, accordion and cello. A couple of tracks even feature the vocal stylings of University of Nebraska s own choir Trip the Light Fantastic, bolstering Neely and Kianna s dulcet harmonies. In short, Bottoms of Barrels is an album that is going to continue to set Tilly and the Wall apart from all of their indie pop peers, and is guaranteed to make you love them even more than you probably already do. We promise.

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Tilly And The Wall - Bottoms Of Barrels