I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting from Swee Generous, the newest musical offering from Chicago band Tell Your Friends, but it certainly wasn’t the staccato abruptness of opening track “Battleships”. More melodic spoken word than singing, the vocals of the band immediately reminded me of Modest Mouse as it delivered jumpy bursts of narration between smooth, bass-y instrumental parts. It wasn’t the somewhat creepy high-pitched voice and whistling combo that opens the following track, “Orca” either. Though empirically odd, Swee Generous does have a bizarre appeal to it. A tinge of early 90’s emo/post-hardcore laces the instrumentals, feeling like something that easily could have come from any of the Kinsella brothers but at the same time Swee Generous carries the distinct characteristics of being the bastard child of David Byrne.
“Sexx Douglas” reminded me of a slowed down, white guy version of a Busdriver song with its quick flicks of language and rhyme, something I can honestly say I haven’t been able to say about a band before, so points to Tell Your Friends for uniqueness. Tracks “Next to Silence” and “Smoke in Bars” are a little less bizarre than the rest, giving reason for me to dub them more every man friendly and though it would cause the album to be listened to out of order, I would recommend the less adventurous music listener check out these songs before diving into the rest of the album.
Swee Generous is not an easy record to describe in soundless text, but in a nutshell I would call it lo-fi experimental with just a smidge of art rock, an album that very literally marches to the beat of its own drummer and refuses to fall into any singular category. Tell Your Friends is not a band for the casual listener, the one who uses music as wallpaper while they go about other tasks. This is a band that will distract you from whatever you’re doing and absolutely requires your undivided attention just so you can figure out what the hell is going on.
If Swee Generous sounds like it may be right up your alley, you can check it out live tomorrow, May 17th at Lincoln Hall where Tell Your Friends will be celebrating the albums release and sharing the stage with Less Birds of Paradise, Darling and Browntown. Show starts at 8pm, is 18+ and will cost you $8.
Tags: Album Review, Chicago, live music, Local Music, New Music, Record Release, Upcoming Shows
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