This Town Needs Guns - Animals
Rating
RIYL
Minus the BearPinback
Braid
American Football
Release Date
10/13/2008
Label
Big Scary MonstersTracklist
01. Chinchilla02. Baboon
03. Lemur
04. Badger
05. Quetzel
06. Panda
07. Elk
08. Pig
09. Gibbon
10. Dog
11. Crocodile
12. Rabbit
13. Zebra
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Minus the Bear, Foals, Owls... what is it with math-rock and animals? Hailing from the same hunting grounds as Foals and Youthmovies, Oxford's This Town Needs Guns have recorded an album all about Animals. Well... kind of. While not exactly a concept album about animals - or singing anything about animals for that matter - each of the 13 tracks is indeed named after one of the critters (well, minus the two American bonus tracks).
Clearly owing a lot to the Kinsella Brothers’ many incarnations and associations (American Football, Owls, Ghosts & Vodka, etc.), TTNG play a laid back math-rock with hints of 90's emo and have delivered to us a delightful début album full of technical pop pleasantness. Underpinned by the jazzy bass and drumming of Dan Adams and Chris Collis, respectively, guitarist Tim Collins' hand-tapping weaves a tight-knit tapestry of melody over the top, while vocalist Stuart Smith completes it with his classic emo croons, which nestle nicely into the mix. Whilst their music is continuously complex and filled to the brim with twiddly-fiddly rhythms, it's never masturbatory and is persistently modest.
If Foals or Minus the Bear are the soundtrack for a party, then This Town Needs Guns are definitely the soundtrack for the chilled-out, late night post-party comedown session; as they're more likely to get you to bob your head and drift off rather than head straight for the dance floor. While Animals is an intricate patchwork quilt of complex time-signatures and guitar noodling, it does unfortunately suffer from a lack of ideas and is ultimately without much variation. Essentially being a record of solely guitars, drum, bass, and vocals - with the exception of the hints of synth and beautiful sweeping strings on “Rabbits” and the brass section on “Elk” - Animals is a stripped down affair with hardly any polish whatsoever, and while the record is sparse and under-produced, I think that's half of its charm.
--Rich Taylor
Comments
Spokane, Washington
absolutely love this album!
Current Listenings:
7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes of Absolution"
Horse Feathers - "Cynic's New Year"
Andrew Bird - "Break It Yourself"
Sigur Ros - "Valtari"
Rocky Votolato - "Television of Saints"
Janus - "Nox Aeris"
Blues Traveler - "25"
I'm a big fan of this group.
Atlanta
Great album.
Fishers, Indiana
This album is incredible. Baboon and Lemur make my day whenever I hear them.
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San Borja, Lima, Perú
3.5? i don't think so... i anticipated this album so much and didn't fail to impress.
Minnesota
Not bad. They feel kind of like a Minus the Bear-lite to me.
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