Tow’rs
- Grey Fidelity
The
latest album from Tow’rs, Grey Fidelity, builds on the exceptional qualities
established on 2015’s The Great Minimum while expanding this Flagstaff outfit’s
musical and literary reach. This isn’t to say that the lyrics on Grey Fidelity
are mired in preciousness – instead, Kyle Miller’s writing talents find an
accessible balance between eloquence and conversational that few acts, modern
or otherwise, can match. The album’s primary theme revolves around the abiding
value of hope in a world seemingly intent on obscuring or crushing every
vestige of it in our everyday lives. Sometimes we just have to continue onward
with the hope of a better tomorrow until we are strong enough to actually
realize that better tomorrow. Grey Fidelity is far from a downer release.
Instead, this collection of eleven songs approaches eternal questions in a
bracing, artful fashion. It sets this five piece up as one of the best working
today and opens their futures up further than ever before.
The
band is never one for pushing on their audience too hard. The first song, “Girl
in Calico”, draws you in slowly and through suggestion rather than sonically
overwhelming you. The arrangement has an ill-defined ambiance that’s only given
firm shape by the vocals and some clean guitar cutting through the
atmospherics. “Alright” is a real heartbreaker for anyone who has faced
difficult passages of personal growth. Kyle Miller’s songwriting presents the
subject in the starkest possible terms with a flash of poetry thanks to his
weathered, deeply emotive voice and the song’s vocal harmonies further sweeten
things. The gentle lilt of acoustic guitar driving “Gold Parade” makes this one
of the album’s more memorable moments and the prominence of the vocal harmonies
gives it some added panache. The words are among the album’s best.
Understated
percussion and circular, almost hypnotically effective acoustic guitars make
“Liminal” a luminous listening experience. The vocals do an excellent job of
syncing up well with the emotions embodied by the players – Tow’rs, as a rule,
writes very intimate material, but this ranks high as one of the album’s most
naked and vulnerable moments. The dollops of keyboards and suggestion of
strings in “Consolations” makes for an excellent dual counterpoint to the
guitar and drums. The latter are particularly effective for keeping the song on
the move; there’s a surprising vibe to this song recalling the early 1970’s
work from Fleetwood Mac, but it isn’t a sustained mood. They pull back the
reins on the penultimate track “Going” and the vocal couldn’t possibly be any
more different than on the preceding song. The stripped back verses contrast
well with the chorus and pre-chorus. There’s a sort of quasi-classical feel
driving the opening of “Holy Water” before it segues into a more ambling body
and the lightly strummed electric guitar sets a nice tone. The finale “I Can’t
Help Myself” recalls old blues songs with its title and the lonesome harmonica
wail coloring the song seems to solidify that connection. It’s an appropriately
moody ending to an album that acknowledges life’s hard bitten realities while
never entirely succumbing to them.
9
out of 10 stars
Alonzo
Evans
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