| CD REVIEW Pearly Gate Music |
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Band : Pearly Gate Music This is the solo project of one Zach Tillman, a native of Maryland now residing in Seattle, and also the younger brother of Fleet Foxes drummer (and singer/ songwriter in his own right) Josh Tillman (hey, I recently did a review by that guy’s last album, didn’t I? Oops, posted 23/11, last year…time flies!). Check out what the label says about Zach? “…Zach’s music has a self-professed “slacker” vobe, drawing inspiration from bands like The Velvet Underground, Pavement and Neutral Milk Hotel, but like these aforementioned bands he has the ability to create real beauty here too…”. Apparently, Zach did try to be a “decent, hard-working proletariat” for about 10 years after leaving highschool. After that, “…he’s taken up permanent residency on deadbeat street and what better way to spend time there than home recording?…He’s brought a Casio keyboard and eats food and sings songs into his laptop…sometimes he even plays acoustic guitar!…” Well, actually the acoustic guitar is an instrument you’ll find plays the most on Pearly Gate Music’s debut album, the Casio being used as occasional filler in the somewhat minimalistic songs. Here and there, you dó get some additional hand percussion (tambourine, for instance, and some tabla drumming as well as hand clapping – check “Navy Blues”), and in a coùple of the songs you’ll even find Zach turning to a bit of (rather noisy) electric guitar (check the ending of “Big Escape”; the mid-section of “Gossamer Hair”, which includes full-fletched drumming, and the mild electric additional guitar in “Bad Nostalgia”)! Zach’s got a nice voice though (he also frequently backs himself up), and his songs are closer to Acoustic Pop than to Folk. At any rate, his material is far more uplifting than his brother’s solo work! I’m not sure whether “Oh, What A Time!” is supposed to proclaim Zach’s religion, or is joking about with it? Truth is, Zach’s musical career has actually been growing for a while. After fiddling around with the Casio and singing into his laptop while also occasionally adding scratchy acoustic guitar, he became Junior Songwritter at local record label Barsuk. Once there, he enlisted the services of his big brother (drums), Collin (guitar), and Joe (bass) for recording, and played shows around Europe and the US supporting his brother, meanwhile also finding time to pluck the bass in a few friends’ projects. Well, one thing’s for certain, for a “Junior” songwriter, he’s got the capacities to turn “Senior” pretty fast, as evidenced by the music he’s written for his solo debut. Check out three songs at myspace.com/pearlygatemusic. Nice down-time music indeed! Something to listen to while sitting on the porch on a hot Summer’s eve, a cool self-made lemonade nearby! 85/100 Tony. |