Geekscape Music Reviews: Tally Hall, Good & Evil
June 21st will mark the release of Michigan/Brooklyn band, Tally Hall’s long-awaited second album, “Good & Evil.” If you make any purchase this month towards music and something amazing, let it be this.
It’s putting it mildly that a ton of life happens in the span of six years. In 2005, their debut, “Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum” was recorded and released, first by an independent label and then re-released by a major label. It was quirky and fun and funny and lovely and there was a song about bananas….and it was six years ago. Needless to say, people grow up while in their formative twenties, and “Good & Evil” reflects that, without sounding like the band had a lobotomy.
Tally Hall spawned out of the University of Michigan, where the members met as undergrads. Since then as a collective: they perform in suits with colored ties, they graduated, they chose to put science degrees on hold, they deferred competitive graduate programs, they recorded a full-length album with a producer who has also produced Beck and Belle & Sebastian, they toured, they played Lollapalooza, they are preparing to take the MCAT and finish degrees, they moved to Brooklyn, they became DJs, they composed music for non-Tally Hall projects, they moved back to Ann Arbor. They are typical twenty-somethings in the twenty-first century; growing, allowing change and not only wanting one thing.
What isn’t quite as typical, is that they’re a smart group of dudes. As evidenced by their recordings. And by Geekscape’s adoration during last year’s SXSW. Case in point: “The Tally Hall Internet Show.” Check it and watch all of the episodes. But only if you like to laugh from the depths of your guts at the irreverent and the witty, and/or have a random obsession with the Olsen Twins.
“Good & Evil” hooked me at first track: “Never Meant To Know” is an oddly bright and understandably dark (the great juxtaposition set forth by the album) look at our collectively unknown future and includes a McCartney-like bass line. “&” is cerebral, story-telling pop music. “Cannibal” makes me hate my gender as a whole, BUT the drum part is so delicious, I am momentarily ok with women sucking. “You” is the kind of sweet-nerd love song that releases my inner “Where-Is-My-John-Cusack-Equivalent-Holding-Up-A-Boombox-Playing-THIS-Instead-Of-Peter-Gabriel?!” moments.
By making bold choices, for better or worse, you are opened up to becoming what you always wanted to be. This album, like so many others, can’t really be confined to genre, especially since there are multiple songwriters within the group, with different influences, talents and ways of thinking. If you like quirky, thoughtful and sprawling, this is an album for you.
Tally Hall will be hitting the road in July and August for their only tour in support of the album. I encourage and implore you to get yourself to a show to see them.
Tally Hall’s 2011 Tour Dates, in support of “Good & Evil”:
July 21, Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection
July 22, Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
July 23, Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
July 24, Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
July 26, Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
July 27, Provo, UT @ Velour Live
July 28, Boise, ID @ Visual Arts Collective
July 29, Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
July 30, Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
August 1, San Francisco, CA @ The Bottom Of The Hill
August 2, Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
August 3, Phoenix, AZ @ The Rhythm Room
August 5, Dallas, TX @ House of Blues (Cambridge Room)
August 6, Austin, TX @ Emo’s
August 7, Houston, TX @ House of Blues (Bronze Peacock)
August 9, Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley
August 10, St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
August 12, Washington, D.C. @ The Rock N’ Roll Hotel
August 13, Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
August 14, Baltimore, MD @ The Metro Gallery
August 16, Westport, CT @ Toquet Hall Student Coffeehouse
August 17, Boston, MA @ Great Scott
August 18, Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
August 19, New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
August 20, Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theater
