Embracing Evolution in Music: TATC's Latest Album Merges Touch Guitar Mastery with Cinematic Rhythms, Echoing Influences from King Crimson to Radiohead
In "The Main Sequence at Last," Thirst And The Cow (TATC) invites listeners on an exploratory journey through the realms of prog and post-prog music, creating a sonic universe that is vast and it is intricate.
"Forming" acts as a cinematic opening. At under a minute long, it resembles a meditative meets industrial soundscape whilst oozing with guitar. This makes way for the cleaner sounds to come in "The Fusion of Heavier Elements" where folk plucks mix with a slightly louder drumming mix. It's repetitive but seems to grow, getting louder. Straight through into heavier rock, we hear heavy rock, drum rolls and suspense-filled bass riffs.
"Solitude" offers a psychedelic feel through a hunt-meet-pray feel. Expect to visualise a tiger in the jungle as it slowly moves closer to its target. The drumming stands out as a marker of the piece. What becomes evident here is the way that TATC showcases their take on progressive rock. Often starting calm and small, growing in part and then heading out with the big guns of electrifying rock.
"Recoil" takes an experimental turn as listeners are carried away by the panning of scattered percussion - almost bringing trap into the equation. The main focus here is the urgent scatters mixed with a slow bass riff. Electronic experimentalism comes home to roost.
212° feels meditative, hypnotic and calming. It differs from the heaviness found before it whilst offering listeners something unexpected. Offering a stunning addition to the album 212° mixes a broad range of musical styles from 80s pop to experimentalism and prog rock here. Wicked.
"A Collapsing Cloud Fragment" marks the sixth and midpoint of the album. Composed of a growing calmness mixed with industrial experimentalism resembles nostalgia to the opening piece - just longer with more bandwidth.
"Time and Adaptation" echos experimental jazz and funk but it doesn't stay within this realm - rather it timetravels, adapting to its era and surroundings. It's a world of its own, experimenting with the concept of being.
"Illumination" awakens the soul, holding its arms around you like a hug from a survivor. It understands you, comforts you and illuminates the good to come. it's closure in an instrumental.
"Mercury" will have you travel faster than you have time for. Its twists and turns both in tempo and style will carry you around for the duration of the piece. Expect scaled bass riffs and drum rolls against some super cool delayed lead riffs on the Touch Guitars U8. Did we mention that adding to the hypnotic feel, the guitar's 8 strings allow everything to go on here.
"Primordial" is relatively consistent compared to the other tracks on the album - it keeps a similar tempo and composition until the very end where industrial elements seep in.
"Cosmic Evolution" takes listeners back to the hypnotic, jungle feel found in "Solitude", With a new vibe, expect a consistent tempo and a soft shaker to uplift you into a feeling of bliss.
Concluding the album is "Darkly Forming", a cinematic story full of electrifying livewire feedback and a growing bassline. Expect suspense, twists and turns through a corridor, or even a maze. Expect to feel something stalking you as you carry yourself through.
Recorded across Portland, Maine, Chicago, Illinois, and Albacete, Spain, the album's production was a feat of remote collaboration. The result is a testament to the seamless integration of technology and artistry. Produced by Markus Reuter and mixed/mastered by Fabio Trentini, the album stands as a high-water mark in experimental and progressive rock.
Each song on the album is a narrative in itself, reflecting TATC's fascination with cosmic and evolutionary themes.
Listening closely to "The Main Sequence at Last" has been like navigating a celestial map of musical exploration where Thirst And The Cow not only pays homage to their influences but also carves a distinct path in the progressive rock genre.