Ryan ChartrandIf you enjoy music with hand claps and sing-along choruses, then you should go out right now and pick up a copy of Tullycraft’s new album on Magic Marker Records, “Every Scene Needs A Center.” It’s chock-full of all you would expect from a Tullycraft album, with some surprises thrown in for good measure. It’s a rare album that can invoke singing along by just about anyone who’s willing to embrace it: sorority girls, nerdy 17-year-old boys, grandmas and even hipsters too drunk to care that their friends in the corner of the room are scoffing at them. The initial joy of Tullycraft for the novice listener is the massive amounts of fun present in their music. Lead singer Sean Tolleffson’s vocals are perfectly supported by ardent female counterpoints on almost every chorus in the album. These vocals stacked upon Tullycraft’s most ambitious exploration with instrumentation to date make the music especially sweet. And the horns and ukuleles and violins and rhythm changes will leave the songs in your head long after they leave your ears.
Lyrically, this album is what any Tullycraft fan would expect. There are songs about punks, goths, and heavy metal heartbreak. Lines range from pure whimsy to satire to extremely esoteric popular culture references. Tullycraft maintains their position as “the American ambassadors of the twee movement” with the expected numerous references to bands most people have never heard of.
The album begins with “The Punks Are Writing Love Songs.” It’s an up-tempo, punkish opener that is 100 percent classic Tullycraft. It’s about exactly what the title implies. A few minutes later we are gifted with some of the most outstanding tracks on the album. The ukulele chords at the beginning of “Bored to Hear Your Heart Still Breaks” are a signal to the first-time listener that this song about being sick of people writing songs about being broken-hearted is one of the catchiest tracks on the album. The jangly guitars and lines about killing Mates of State in their sleep make “Clique at Night Vandals” very worthwhile. “If You Take Away the Make-Up (Then the Vampires They Will Die)” is the shortest song on the album at well under two minutes. However, for a band with a long list of short songs in their catalog, the short length of this one is an indication that it’s one of their best. The band reveals their true feelings about goth bands that wear makeup with lines like “Without the Revlon girls at Macy’s / Peter Murphy won’t survive.” Oh yeah, and the song has more hand claps than licks in a Tootsie Roll Pop. The most impressive song on the album, however, has to be “Dracula Screams of Tiger Style (Parts 1 & 2).” Yes, it is the longest Tullycraft song ever. And yes, it’s chock-full of Bela Lugosi references and exactly as epic as you would expect a 7:25 Tullycraft song in two parts to be.
“Every Scene Needs a Center” is a great album that will definitely grow on you the more you listen to it. It is a continuation of the so-called “progression” of Tullycraft’s sound which was experienced on their last album “Disenchanted Hearts Unite.” However, this new album lacks some of the exciting character that album expressed. Sure, it’s pretty great, but it doesn’t quite reach the genius of their last album. Regardless, fans will love the new album and it will surely create many new fans. And I recommend everyone reading this to at least visit the band’s Web site, tullycraftnation.com, and listen to the free mp3s they have available. You may like what you hear.
Andrew LaGraff is an agricultural business senior and a member of KCPR. He’s also completely full of it.