Teethgrynder “Hostages”
LP - $15.30
LP UPC: 305390598060
STREET DATE: 10/29/21
CAT #: ISO030
LABEL: Isolation
Amid the scattered forests and jagged cliffs of Scotland's east coast stirs TEETHGRYNDER, collaborative solo project from visual artist and multi-instrumentalist Jay Thurley. Walking out into the daylight for his fourth album, currently set to release on October 29th via Isolation Rec., Jay continues to peel away his outer layers and reveal the new, while stepping forward into new territories. 'HOSTAGES' is climbing the cold mountain, getting hit by the sweltering sun, and the journey beyond.
Written and recorded at the end of 2019, TEETHGRYNDER delivers his most sophisticated record yet, featuring JAYE JAYLE's Evan Patterson and DAUGHTERS' Alexis Marshall, both of whom have worked with Jay previously. Other contributing musicians include BOSSK guitarist Robert Vaughan, Visual artist and long-term collaborator Richey Beckett, FILTH IS ETERNAL vocalist Lisa Mungo, FALL OF EFRAFA's Neil Kingsbury and among others, maybe even David Yow of THE JESUS LIZARD.
HOSTAGES opens with the narration of a bloody, bass-driven stomp down a muddy, tree-lined path, nodding to Nick Cave's earlier work with his Bad Seeds. Alexis Marshall's inquisitive observation in Votive Sighs haunts a composition of strings, brass and electric piano, providing respite from the more pounding, god-invoking sound of Cyclops and Vanity, the Fool. The album's title track is the Yin to perhaps the most uplifting song on a TEETHGRYNDER album, Not Lonely. Evan Patterson of JAYE JAYLE provides a drifting array of vocal and string arrangements to Jay's glockenspiel droplets and saxophone breaths, used in ways juxtaposed to their harshness in other pieces.
Lyrically, the album deals with themes of deterioration, Thurley's journey continuing to dredge us into parts of ourselves we try to suppress, staggering through a world falling into turmoil in pursuit of a religious enlightenment, conflicted with the songwriter's sickly black sense of humour, stoic as it is unyielding.
Sonically, a foundation of blues, Young Widows style noise rock, cinematic movements, spoken word poetry, chaotic swathes of saxophone and electronics. Brought forward here are jangling guitars, pounding drums, amative strings and Leonard Cohen-like vocals both venomous and drunkenly rambling at a seedy bar in a Blade Runner dystopia - TEETHGRYNDER once again using juxtaposition to deliver a journey both hellbound and enlightened, challenging and contemplative.
TRACK LISTING:
- Devilman
- Casey Rowe's Ghost
- Zeal, The Assassin
- Not Lonely (ft. Jaye Jayle)
- Vanity, The Fool
- Votive Sighs (ft. Alexis Marshall)
- Beans
- Stare At The Ground
MARKETING POINTS:
- Solo project from visual artist and multi-instrumentalist Jay Thurley
- Features contributions by Alexis Marshall (Daughters), Evan Patterson (Jaye Jayle), Robert Vaughan (Bossk), Lisa Mungo (Filth Is Eternal) and Neil Kingsbury (Fall Of Efrafa)
- Airplay on BBC Radio 1
FOR FANS OF:
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, John Carpenter, Young Widows, Alexis Marshall, Leonard Cohen