When I was 14 or 15, I fell in love with the song "Pat's Trick" by Helium for a few other reasons than Mary Timony. At exactly 1:53 in the song, the scuzzy bass and cymbal crashes fall away and Timony unleashes a note that's breathy and fluttery but robustly full. Then, without a moment's hesitate, the band barrels through a sludgy bridge that masks Timony's voice is gainy distortion. The idea that two such contradictory stances (beauty and ugliness) could coexist so happily, so productively made the song seem really radical to me (I was, remember, only 14). These two poles seemed to inform one another: the prettiness of it seemed indescribably tough while the brute force of the song seemed brittle and vulnerable.
I still like this sound, though you don't hear it as much anymore, which is why I'm particularly excited to hear a new Black Tambourine anthology that Slumberland is putting together. Black Tambourine perfected this kind of muscular vulnerability very early in their short career. The band has a lot of songs that strike this balance (the aggressively bright "Throw Aggi Off the Bridge" and "Black Car" come immediately to mind), but "For Ex-Lovers Only" is the one that I think best exhibits the band's striking balance of grit and heart. Between the prickly wall of guitar and the percussion that gallops like a deranged horse, the song manages to churn up a lot of noise. But it's Pam Berry's vocals that rein it all in. She keeps her head in the squalls of feedback and rumbling bass, singing "Yes, you know why I had to go cool and civil/See, you're lying, again." She's definitely angry, but she's not about to let anyone see it. Her posse behind her are the ones weilding the weapons.
The anthology is out 3/30 on vinyl from Slumberland Records.
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