Tilly and the Wall

Sometimes you just cant hold back the river. So goes one of the refrains on the very first song found on Tilly and the Walls newest album, Bottoms of Barrels, the follow-up to 2004s critically-acclaimed Wild Like Children. In nearly two years since Wild Like Childrens release, it has been inevitable that a band as unique as Tilly and the Wall, like that old aforementioned river, would charge forth towards greatness, turning frowns upside down and winning legions of fans along the way. Bottoms of Barrels is the culmination of such a journey a gushing, sparkling tour de force of energy, excitement and a million sounds rushing to greet you all at once. Yes, it seems Tilly and the Wall has certainly arrived and were thrilled to have them back. Recorded with AJ Mogis over three weeks in their hometown of Omaha, NE, the songs on Bottoms of Barrels pick up where Wild Like Children left off. Theres more tapping, more voices, more hand claps, more exuberance, more harmonies, more, more, more. The band spent 2004 and the bulk of 2005 on the road with the likes of Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, The Go! Team and more, stirring up melody fragments along the way. The songs finally became whole while the band spent summer 05 in a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, one of the leading artist-in-residence centers in the country. In honor of the bands tradition of doing things their own way, its fitting that Tilly and the Wall were the first band to ever be accepted into the program. Once the songs were written and studio-ready, the band found a wider variety of instruments than ever before at their nimble fingertips, and began to experiment. The result is a mixture of guitars, keyboards, trumpets, cellos, percussion, xylophones, a choir from University of Nebraska called Trip the Light Fantastic, drums and, of course, the sound of percussionist Jamie Williams feet tap-tap-tapping away. Bottoms of Barrels tells tales of fragmented love, rousing up your courage, the reckless abandon of following a spontaneous idea, standing up for the things you love. The albums first single, Bad Education, is the finest use of flamenco dancing within the context of a rock album, while Black and Blue is a lovelorn song of devotion, proclaiming I want to know everything about you! with increasing intensity as the key changes, the harmonies grow tenfold, and the voices of singers Neely Jenkins and Kianna Alarid ring like alarms. Lost Girls is classic Tilly, starting with guitarist Derek Pressnalls broad, country-tinged chords, while The Freest Man runs wild with keyboardist Nick Whites New Order-esque keyboard line and a squiggly electronic drum beat bolstering Jamies taps. And lastly, Coughing Colors is the one and only piano ballad Tilly and the Wall has ever recorded, telling a story of a girl lost and now found, paving her own way through the world, and the people that stand by her, very much like our five musical friends from Omaha.