(Hardly Art/Stomp)

Putting the art back in art-rock

Talbot Tagora must feel way cooler than the people they knew in high school. The Seattle three-piece play really angular art-rock, and write abstract non-fiction. The press release for Lessons In The Woods Or A City is a couple of paragraphs of hypnotic prose (vaguely pertaining to the record), a poem (vaguely pertaining to the nature of press releases), and a collection of 100 or so disjointed words (Shrink-wrap. Stereo. Toothpaste. Disease. Purse. Worker. Etcetera.) pertaining to nothing whatsoever. The record is about as sporadic, though resides at the post-punk end of the art-rock spectrum. The drums are sharp and tribal – sounding like they were recorded live in a reflective room. The guitar and bass are energetic and dynamic – never straying too far apart, but weaving constantly with mathematical precision in half-diminished scales. The vocals take something of a backseat, but create great melodic and rhythmic effect when used, being just as aggressively timed and textured with harmonies as the guitars. It all comes across as a strange mess – like Pi to a thousand decimal places – but the longer you stare, the more it all begins to make very profound sense. Thus Lessons is an intensely interesting and well-crafted record when observed as a piece of art, but too cerebral to engage your average rock listener. Is that pretentious? Totally. Will you care? No.

JAKEB SMITH

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