Words: Ben Forrester (Photo Credit: Denée Segall)
TRAAMS – Personal Best
(Fat Cat)
It’s been seven years since UK indie rock trio TRAAMS graced us with an album. Taking an unofficial time out, each member went away to their own thing, either musical or personal, eventually reuniting to jam in the summer of 2020. Not only did this spur on writing for album three, but also a progression in sound.
Though ‘Personal Best’ does hark back to the full band garage rock fuzz of earlier material in places, it tends to explore psychedelic, kraut inspired realms, with vintage drum machines and soft synth swirls getting heavily introduced. It does take a moment to settle, with three minute ambient instrumental opener ‘Sirens’ followed by the tense, ‘Unknown Pleasures‘ pulsations of ‘Dry’. It’s a slightly disjointed start, but then everything starts to blend in and it all makes much more sense as you go in.
‘The Light At Night’ is a perfect marriage of hypnotic rhythms and swirling melodies, completed by a captivating vocal performance from Joe Casey of Protomartyr fame. It’s interesting to hear Joe swap his usual soulful American drawl for a spoken word delivery, which reminds me of a young Frank Black; wide eyed and speaking in tongues. ‘Sleeper’ proves to be another highlight in all its soft psych tenderness that is all kinds of glorious. It’s moments like this that very much go hand-in-hand with the lyrical themes behind this album, focusing on small personal changes that can make a bigger positive impact.
I think musically that sums up the record as well – it’s a lot more subtle than TRAAMS previous work, but it feels really forward moving and offers much promise. It may not be the most perfect album front to back, but ‘Personal Best‘ shows off some really exciting dynamic shifts that makes me super keen to see where TRAAMS fly off to next.
Ty Segall – “Hello, Hi”
(Drag City)
One of the most prolific songwriters in music today, Ty Segall keeps up his annual release-a-record ethic with album number 14!! That’s just under his own name too, not taking into account the trillions of other projects he has on the go. The thing with Ty’s solo stuff is you never know what you’re going to get. Last year we got the electro-glam stylings of ‘Harmoniser’. It’s not the first time we’d heard Ty go for that combo, but it was certainly his most realised, with some solid production at its core. With the first taste of ‘”Hello, Hi”’ being its slick, fuzz rock title track, I was suspecting something pretty raging, but it turns out it was somewhat of a red herring!
For the most part, this is an acoustically driven folk record. In a similar vein to its predecessor, this takes a style we’ve already heard Ty dive into, but with a much more sonically plush sound. It’s kinda from the same head space as albums like ‘Sleeper’ or even ‘Goodbye Bread’, but a lot less lo-fi and way more refined and assured in its writing.
I can hear songs like ‘Cement’ and ‘Blue’ being full band tracks, the former sporting an ear worm riff, the latter a chorus that is begging for a fuzz pedal. It’s not to say they don’t work as acoustic numbers, I just wonder if Ty’s holding back a bit. I love the slinky groove of the title track but amongst this otherwise stripped back affair, it feels slightly out of place.
This isn’t to say that ‘”Hello, Hi“’ is not without its charm, with tracks like ‘Saturday Pt. 2’ and ‘Don’t Lie’ sounding fully at home in this more laid back set. You can’t deny the strength of Ty’s musicianship and songwriting skills and this is definitely a pleasant listen that is perfect for a hazy, coffee slurping morning soundtrack. But, it’s not Ty’s most engaging work to date. I guess it’s down to preference really. If you prefer his more psych-folk material, you’ll likely get a kick out of this, but to me a lot of these songs sound like acoustic versions of full band, rock songs. A perfectly pleasant set make no mistake, but one with maybe not as much staying power as some of his more charged up efforts.
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