DecoyMusic.com

• Website
• Hear
• Buy

Terra Terra Terra - Mind Like a Man, Soul Like a Child

Rating

RIYL

Panic! At the Disco
As Tall As Lions
Trial Kennedy

Release Date

08/11/2009

Tracklist

1. Prologue
2. Paradigm
3. Transmission Lost
4. Too Far
5. Taking Her Home
6. Now You Will See
7. Only the Penitent Man Shall Pass
8. This Is My Associate Cornelius
9. Wrong is Right
10. Coast is Clear

There’s a certain expectation that you set for yourself as a band when the opening track of your first record is static, hesitant dialogue about individualism and ingenuity. If the music that follows isn’t radical, if it isn’t at least borderline revolutionary, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. So we watch as Florida boys Terra Terra Terra fall from their self righteous pedestal. Not too far though, because even though they’ve failed in creating the new scene they might be chasing, Mind Like a Man, Soul Like a Child is worthy of a few good turns.

Before the record even starts to play, however, there are a few issues. Terra Terra Terra. Why not just Terra, or at most Terra Terra? The repetition does nothing except become a tongue twister when speaking of them and abuses the Latin tongue. The album title does little to act as a saving grace in this respect either. At once it might be attempting poetry in the way music has the ability to instill regression to childlike innocence, but this just becomes another great expectation the album fails to meet and comes across as merely arrogant.

But if you don’t ruin all your music by delving too deep into it as I have done, you’ll realize it is an otherwise well written and solidly produced album. Not as original as their myspace blurb will have you believe: “…(Terra Terra Terra) spent the better part of the last three years honing a diverse musical style that is at once unique, but also holds true to the band’s roots.” They have nevertheless succeeded in writing music that is hugely accessible and perfect for the mainstream radio listeners looking for a something a little more indie.

First single, “Transmission Lost,” is something sounding a little bit like Fall Out Boy but the synth and high notes of Loren Taylor’s vocals give a bit of The Killers' flavor, which is an affective pairing, but would be very at home on the first Panic! At the Disco record. “So come on / come on / let’s get this started / I know you like the way we dance / and tonight is your night,” bridges each of the song's choruses and provides a catchy little dance number to get those pre-teen hearts thumping.

The stand out track, and perhaps the most honest of the album, is eye catching just for its title. “This Is My Associate, Cornelius” provides just enough ambiguity to intrigue the listener and rope them in for a listen. Although the slow piano and acoustic guitar intro building to a rousing chorus remains overdone and unoriginal, it is basically a good song. “Cause I’m broken unsure / and I like it this way / I’ve got too much time / to try and make this okay / I can’t breathe through the smoke / and my lungs feel the pain,” are lyrics that are convincing enough to make you believe in the emotion that needed to be sung.

Don’t go looking for anything ground breaking from these four lads from Florida, but don’t write them off immediately either. This is an album that hasn’t broken any rules and doesn’t strive for genius, so perhaps now that they’ve broken into the scene they may attempt to create something a little more unexpected. Mind Like a Man, Soul Like a Child may not deliver on its promises, but it doesn’t completely miss either.

--Sandy Powell

Author

powell.ad

Last updated: 10/23/2009 07:11AM