November is a big month for Dublin-based three-piece Tin Charm. The band – formed from the ashes of Sunbear and Ruby Tailights – are set to release their debut album ‘The Engine Is Bleeding’; an intriguing, if at times patchy, listen.
The album opens well, SN arriving on chords lifted from Pearl Jam’s Life Wasted, slowed down and heavied up to great effect, with high keys and claps accompanying the rhythm. It’s a track that should be put on regular radio rotation immediately. Red’s shuffle and rumble is similarly impressive and does the loud-quiet-loud thing well, building to a malevolent and threatening cacophony before falling to arpeggio-ed chords and Martin Kelly’s voice, quiet as a crooning mouse.
What You Said Yourself begins with static noise and features drum rolls and some mighty riffage, the bass anchoring the track over the gnashing guitar stabs for one of the record’s finer tracks. One gets the impression that this is how Tin Charm is supposed to sound, though from here the album see-saws.
The band’s eponymous song is largely forgettable, aside from the nice touch of lazer-guitar that punctuates the rhythm. Similarly, the almost aggressively shoegazy Live Your Days In Dreams passes by without much to hold attention. The same can be said for Pricks and Clowns: quiet-verse, loud chorus with tired lyrics about sad little towns populated by – you guessed it – pricks and clowns. It comes across as a bit angsty, though it must be said that the chorus’ backing vocals are fantastic.
K-X=U opens with a filthy bassline and is a rollicking good listen; launching into a frenzy two minutes in, pitching back and forth between drum fills and guitar squalls. Similarly, Maybe I’m Gone is a two minute exercise in taut beat-driven fuzz-riffs. It is moments like these when Tin Charm are at their most compelling, giving it socks and making frenzied noise rhythmically coherent. Too often though it sounds like there’s a more ambitious post-rock outfit trying to struggle its way out of these songs, and the vocals throughout are serviceable without ever being great.
The beat-driven Mayfly floats in softly, and it is here the vocals work best over the louder riffs, keeping soft and not trying to match the volume or aggression of the guitars. A Cloud On The Ground ends the record with a strum-and-sing-along affair that is largely forgettable, save for a fuzz riff that revs into the track for a bar here and there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take over until the final minute; ending a bit too soon and leaving one wishing it had taken up more space on the track.
Though it meanders at times, there are glimpses of greatness here. A distillation of this record’s finer moments reveals an eager group, not afraid to hook you with melodies or make ear-rattling noise. Should they further refine and push their sound, Tin Charm will undoubtedly do interesting things. For now, ‘The Engine Is Bleeding’ marks a promising first step. Be sure to make it to the Odessa at the end of November to hear it for yourself.