Pistols At Dawn - Tarnation Album Review
It was three years ago that Rawk - the original five-piece that came before the trio we have the honour of listening to now - was created out of an experimentation with Hip Hop loops. Lead vocalist Dan McLachlllan delivered a fresh batch of acoustic tracks dealing with a variety of subjects ranging from good & evil (Trespassers), the death of a friend (Slumber Party) and his time as a student in Russia (Man.Wolf.Man). The tracks dovetailed perfectly with stripped back instrumentation and a down-tempo head-nodding feel produced by Jim Calverley (Bass / Programming) and Matt Ball (Drums / percussion / programming).
The dead weight was cut loose and became Pistols At Dawn, whose infectious sound was recorded in a haunted plague village in Rutland and with the first single from the album Backwards turning just the right heads with Amazing Radio describing their sound as that of "a spooked out version of Fleet Foxes".
Released on the 27th February 2012 LP Tarnation has a folky, blue collar feel to it with an everyday atmospheric slice of echoing simplicity driven through it thanks to the wily programming of Jim and Matt deftly intertwining beautifully with the Eddie Vedder-esque post grunge vocals. This album is an intimate sojourn through Dan McLachlan's mind; all the time with the sneaking suspicion that Nickelbachs' managers snuck in and messed with the production especially the vocals, yet all the while this music comes from the soul and in so doing captures it and enforces its essence.
Slumber Party with its tribally digitised instrumentation that fills with a fog of voices floating over the existential lyrics which slowly speed up in nature repeating the phrase "You always said you'd come down/ You were the one who would follow me round". In some way at attempted exorcism of the memories of an old friend with hints of irritation that show the artist's frustration at being in some way let down and in being unable to do nothing to prevent the death.
A sense of self-deprecation comes in Horny/Corny which is the only true human love song with cleverly spun lyrics including "We're richest when we're in bed". This is track is the perfect juxtaposition to the poetic Snow Song where Dan personifies every cruel object, every melting snow "smoothing the edges of it all, but there was a never any jagged bits on you. And everything's reminding me of you....."
Each track tells a unique story and as a whole they congeal to cement a dynamite solid piece of musicianship that is timeless and contemporary, that listeners should be in awe of.