Review: Talk, Tired Thanatoid - Sunflowers As Bitter As Ocean Water

I get irrationally attached to the music that I listen to. I love strange, cryptic stuff (I'm really coming around on Noise, I swear!) and for a while, I was buying tapes on Bandcamp pretty much by random. It wasn't some hipster impulse to get in at the ground level, at least I don't think so. I think I had just purchased a tape player and wanted to fill out my collection with stuff from small labels-- plus it was a fun way to branch out a bit more. At some point along that process, I had come across Talk, Tired Thanatoid, an indie band that was releasing stuff on Pacific Nature Records. This story [is] about Talk, Tired Thanatoid, but I do want to say that they make good music and that Sunflowers Bitter as Ocean Water was one of the best tape pickups I've made (the Mountain Goats mentioned on one of their tracks, Taylor Swift, I think?).

Talk, Tired Thanatoid is hard to describe. Their sound is generally emo-aligned, but their production definitely leans more toward shoegaze or jangle pop. Their melodies are catchy, with Zackary Burbano's vocals acting as both a driving force and a leavener for his floaty guitar and bandmate Arden Klawitter's incessant drums. Together, the two are able to conjur a sound that is unlike anything I've heard, while feeling so, so familiar. The album's openers, Taylor Swift and Nineteen embody an almost extraterrestrial sound with down-to-earth lyrics, before transitioning into a more anxious, metered centerpiece.

The album's third track, My Teeth Fell Out Last Night, lyrically harkens to a common stress-induced dream, while the sonic elements of the song grip the listener, creating artificial points of tension and release to almost induce a sense of stress. By the second verse, the tempo of the backing instrumentals has doubled, while the vocals retain their pace. A more articulate man would call this a metaphor for the feeling of the world speeding up around you while your anxiety renders you powerless; that man is not me. I will say, however, that this song is definitely my stand-out for the album. Seamlessly, it transitions into the album's Interlude, Michael Cera, which is a drum-driven spoken word piece. The poem itself is wonderful, and gives the listener a break from the tension that the album has been building up to this point.

One point that I haven't touched on yet, but I feel is a core feature of this album, is the repetition of lyrics. Many of the songs on this record, especially in the back-nine, are mostly built-up from the same set of repeated lyrics. These lyrics are repeated mantra-like in different ways; faster cadences, angrier tones, a halting breath-- you'll get the idea after a few listens. The trio that make up the end of the album (ignoring the not-so-hidden bonus track, Donut Girl) are less anxious and frenzied than the front stack. While Taylor Swift, Nineteen, and Teeth reflect around a festering feeling of doubt and a deep sense of self-doubt, In Lieu of Breakfast (Boxed Flowers) centers around beauty. Each line of the song lists another wonderful thing in the narrator's life: summertime, the smell of breakfast, "that spanish confetti," and even boxed flowers. This song sets the tone for the following two tracks, Bitter As and The Perfect Beauty of a Sunflower! While Perfect Beauty does bring a more somber feeling, it continues to be an exploration into small, beautiful, shared moments.

Overall, I think this album is something special and deserves to be heard by more ears than just mine. While you're over on PNR's Bandcamp, make sure to also check out Emma St. Clair's self-titled album which I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Both that album and Sunflowers punch far above their weight in terms of production costs and experience. They're two examples of perfect indie records.