Essentially, this band are a great example of American musical anglophilia – for once, though, the end result is neither derivative nor dull.
Essentially, this band are a great example of American musical anglophilia – for once, though, the end result is neither derivative nor dull.
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Imagine what a Factory Records band would sound like if it were transplanted to Indiana and infused with the grandeur of the Great Lakes. That sound is Tammar.
Visits begins with the driving, droning Heavy Tonight. With Dave Walter’s incomprehensible lyrics and swooning, arching vocals its closer to a soundscape than a pop song, but in spite of that, the brief guitar hook makes the track effortlessly listenable. The expansive, ambitious finale – a tangle of wailing, cymbals and groaning guitar – makes this a hell of an opener.
Then things turn a corner. Summer Fun is a sunny little number, with a cute little handclap beat that is so sixties it could be taken right off a Motown record – but this is all tempered by distorted vocal and guitar. Walter’s melancholic growling has enough edge to stop anything becoming too saccharine.
The Last Line opens with another irresistibly eighties synth riff – like all riffs on this album, it’s insistent, incessant and instantly memorable. This is what Tammar does so well throughout Visits: take an elementary idea, a drone or a riff, and then run with it, layering on top of, building expansive textures with lashings of lo-fi.
Deep Witness, Arrows Underwater and Frost Meter and where the group gets to show their depth. Fans of A Certain Ratio, The Fall and Ride will love these scuzzy anthems, which give a new, cavernous resonance to an old sound.
Essentially, this band are a great example of American musical anglophilia – for once, though, the end result is neither derivative nor dull.