Tindersticks were a band I didn’t immediately like. I heard their first album out of the gate. I did come around, and would say they are a favorite band. To the point, I consider their third album Curtains one of my all time favorites.
Nick Cave was always a touch point for the band - baritone voice and dramatic lyrics. Of course, any deeper listening revealed there was more to it. There was always a bit of Leonard Cohen, and for that matter, a bit of Lee Hazelwood to the band.
For a band that seemed to take root with the British indie movement of the 90s, they have had an incredible run. I don’t think there really are much in the way of ‘down moments’ for the band or even Stuart Staples solo career.
That said, 2019’s No Treasure But Hope was a surprise- their best album in over 20 years. An all time tearjerker in “The Amputees”, going full Scott Walker in “Pinky in the Daylight” and “See My Girls” a paranoid build up that achieves a new level in terror in the band’s discography. The band are hitting on all cylinders again.
2021’s Distractions feels like a logical next step. I would say it’s a less accessible record with only seven songs but a 47 minute running time. Add to it that three of the songs are covers.
It likely doesn’t get better than the opening track - the original 11 minute Man Alone -a pulsating workout that will probably the closest we get the Tindersticks to doing No Wave. A continuation of the bands previous move from early career romance to cinematic menace. (Almost every reviewer has made some mention of this being a “Covid” record and though the band had to be nimble, I don’t think their artistic vision here would have been changed in any way).
The selection of Television Personalities’ You’ll Have To Scream Louder is inspired. Already a great late 70s post punk Mute Records song, Staples captures all of that to make it his own.
Neil Young’s A Man Needs A Maid and Dory Previn’s Lady With The Braid are well picked covers too. Still, I think they add to this album to be ‘for the fans’. Distractions stands as the next step in the path for the band. Newcomers should start elsewhere but longtime fans should still be excited where this band may still go.
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