Levelling up from the solo project of Brendan Wright with the addition of Kelven “KP” Polite (bass), Sam Blumenstiel (drums) and Pat King (pedal steel), Boston’s Tiberius have developed a style of music they call ‘farm emo’. A combination of indie rock, punk and psychedelic sensibilities tied together by alt-country twang and as capable of rich ambient drift as it is punk fury or confessional emotion.
New album Troubadour, coming this autumn on Audio Antihero, feels like the culmination of this aesthetic, emerging from a difficult yet necessary period for Wright. “For most of my life, I defined myself almost completely on who I was in relation to others—my friends, my family, and my relationships,” they explain. “Troubadour was written in a short period of time where these relationships changed significantly, and it felt as if I underwent complete ego death. For months, I felt insane but inevitably found solace in nature and the constant of the trees. For a period, I felt utterly connected to the universe in a way that was completely outside my sense of self. I was everything all at once, and it was one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had. And it was hard. And I think I was lucky enough to capture it in these ten tracks.”
Lead single ‘Sag’ sees Wright going through this process in real time, reaching for what they want Tiberius to sound like and who they want to be. “I wrote ‘Sag’ when I was really playing the ‘comparison game’ in my head and asking myself what role I wanted music to play in my life,” Wright explains. “It was the first in a batch about looking at yourself in relation to the others around you and trying to decipher who you are without that context.” The result ebbs and flows across its runtime, pulled in all directions by competing emotions. Uncertainty, doubt, desperation, a recurrent yet skittish determination to embrace some inner truth. And while there might not be any clear answer by the end, the song itself represents one in its own right. An amalgamation of styles woven into something singular and delivered with cathartic weight.
Photo by Zoe Hopper