When “Hammer Lights Up”—the first track off Big Tusk’s new Flood EP—kicks off, it almost sounds like a video game. Then it sounds like a circus, then it sounds like summer, and then voice comes in. It’s got this simple quality to it, somewhere between rock n’roll and punk, like the singer really could have been somebody if he’d just taken some lesson and, thank God he didn’t, because the voice he’s cultivated on his own is as genuine as it is melodic. The track tones down and speeds up and ends with a far-off cry. It’s haunting like the one who got away.
The EP slows down with “Carrot/Stick,” a slower track that’s driven by a bass line that would be good to run to. Following suit, “Slouch” is a track that opens with a gothic style drone, slowly spinning into light guitar pricks and deep hums. Is that a different vocalist? Are there multiple singers in Big Tusk? They’re a self proclaimed “three guy four instrument” band, I wonder if everyone does a bit of everything and at all times.
They’ve got this lovely aesthetic that reminds me of the older days of indie and progressive rock. There are moments that point to Joan of Arc, or Sunny Day Real Estate, or even Blonde Redhead if you can believe it. Of course these sounds are updated, they’re new, and they’re unique to Big Tusk.
The EP finishes out with it’s name sake, a pragmatic track titled “Flood.” To be honest, it feels more like a spell or incantation than it does a song. Long tones highlighted by a far off and drifting piano, voices in tune with splashes of guitar, it’s the kind of thing that makes you feel like you’re dreaming.
Big Tusk is a self proclaimed alternative-new-3rd-world-lounge-rock-freak-funmaker group. I think it fits with a new musical and cultural aesthetic that’s growing up with kids in their late twenties. There’s a mix of modern art and nostalgia for something older and simpler. We all have shitty jobs and work hard for almost no money and have bills that are almost comical. We’ve all dreamed about moving into a big house with all our friends and making art all day and cooking big meals together and growing our own vegetables. We’re city kids who yearn for a hippie’s life, and somewhere in that tension is the style of music that Big Tusk perfectly articulates.
Maybe that’s why it’s something that sounds new and instantly recognizable, that feeling of deja vu that’s not tied down to a memory. It’s almost like you’re remembering something that hasn’t happened yet. Maybe I’m getting overly poetic here, or overly nostalgic, or overly sentimental, but this is—after all—a review of art.
I’m excited to hear what Big Tusk does next. I hope it makes me feel like the Flood EP makes me feel.
WORDKRAPHT Rating: 5 Stars
Album Name: Flood
Date Released: December, 2013
Genre: Indie Rock, 3rd Wave Tribal
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Band Members: Howe, David, Sam
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigTusk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigTuskTheBand