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Weird Dreams - Choreography (album)

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Album Review

Tilly and the Wall
O Moshi Moshi

Article written by Adam W - Oct 13, 2008

Tilly and the Wall always sounded dreadful on paper. A whimsically named indie troupe with a tap-dancer in lieu of drums and a songbook full of gleeful sweeps of childhood giddiness and optimistic sincerity. It seems the Nebraskan quintet’s greatest feat has laid in their ability to be all of this and to steer well clear of being cloying, annoying and twee. Theirs is a sound which is pretty, fun, and interesting, which very rarely suffocates the listener with its potential cuteness.

On ‘O’, their third album, they have further bulked up this sound and have added more rockiness to the mix. This has been allowed for by tap-dancer Jamie Williams seemingly adding a few more taps to her repertoire, allowing some punchier numbers to nestle in amongst their more standard indie-pop. Single Pot Kettle Black and Too Excited are two examples of this, with thrashy guitars and plenty of girly yelping being powered along by Williams’ more pounding rhythm. Although it is on the more subtly progressive tracks where this album finds its peaks – Blood Flower being a particular delight with its swooping accordion making nods to Arcade Fire (whilst staying away from the Canadian’s arch-seriousness).

Ultimately though, whilst this being a very pleasant and occasionally raucous album, it does not really improve on what Tilly and the Wall have brought us before. The pretty bits aren’t as pretty, the louder bits don’t seem to fit with the band’s sound as well as hoped and the result is not so much a bad album, as a rather underwhelming one. You can’t knock them for refining their sound a little, but in doing so they’ve lost parts of the charm and the beauty which made them such an endearing listen in the first place.

Links:
http://www,tillyandthewall.com
http://www.myspace.com/tillyandthewall