The Manchester via Brighton via six-piece released their debut album ‘Among Everything Else’ last autumn via Violette Records.
Images courtesy of Ellie Rankin
Album’s laced in jazz’ oddities can be difficult and obstructive. Tiger & Flies seeks to dispel this myth. For every jagged edge, there is a pop hook and warming vocal, and enriching brass gently sanding them away.
‘Among Everything Else’ is in large, a set of great musical components coming together to forge new bonds and reawaken a few lost. Opener ‘Night Time Mood’ sees John Hassall and Burt Bacharach’s pop instincts hooking up with the melodic quirks of Baxter Dury. ‘Headspace’ takes the warmth of Orange Juice to the wayward landscapes of Murder Capital and Iceage. Meanwhile, ‘In My Skin’ splices Fontaines DC’s debut with soulful hints of New Street Adventure and, the underrated vocals of Suggs.
‘Pretty Good at Doing Fine’, despite its undeniable funk, strays too far into Talking Heads and XTC territory to step out as the band’s own. Countering this though is the sheer majesty of ‘Bat and Ball’, ‘Ben’, and ‘Don’t Let Her Walk Away’. On ‘Bat and Ball’, Arthur Arnold combines the vocal drawl of Charlie Steen (Shame) and the Albion jaunt of Carl Barat which culminates in a stunning set of Libertines via Lightning Seeds bubblegum s ‘ba ba ba’s’.
The latest single ‘Ben’ is a lost set of Johnny Marr guitar parts. Short angular riffs and eloquent jangles unite with Red Rum Club’s pop-brass instincts to create an almost euphoric sonic. Lifting it to the next level are the backing vocals as they carry an understated anthem to near-perfect status.
Then, on ‘Don’t Let Her Walk Away’, the album offers up its crowning glory. A forlorn beginning worthy of Sea Power at their most reflective clouds the air. It’s here their use of brass feels truly theirs. The hook acting as a breath, a reset on the pain darkening the protagonists’ vision on a relationship is astonishing. A truly fine update to the Orange Juice classic ‘Falling and Laughing’.
In 1967, Cream took jazz principles to the heights of psyche music with ‘Disraeli Gears’. Tigers & Flies have taken similar difficult foundations to the pinnacle of 60s pop and post-punk.