The Thousands

What:
Lands

Who:
TTT

On:
Out independently via MGM

Show:
TTT launch Lands, Fri May 21, Rocket Bar, Hindley St, 9pm, with Fair Maiden and Terrible Truths**TTT have had a change of heart lately. The band formerly known as Tic Toc Tokyo has shed the post-punk trappings and embraced a fuller sound. Lands, their debut LP, has placed an emphasis firmly on the rhythm section, trusting in masterful bass and drum to carry the weight of TTT’s far-reaching songs. Guitar and vocals come from a distance, and the tension of the record comes mostly from this contrast. It is full of space, worried less about making you get up and dance and more about an exploratory feeling.

The title of the album gives it all away; each song is a section of landscape. Early on it’s a straight forward affair, heavy on the rototom. The vestiges of Tic Toc Tokyo remain in the vocals, but these come like old echoes from way down in the mix. After lead single ‘Animal’, the landscape changes as the band branches out and tries their hand at the ever-popular tribal chant in the album’s highest point, ‘Hinterlands’, which features withering horns screeching out of the darkness. The album is impeccably textured; it is dark and varied, probably best listened to far underground or with your eyes closed.