“Coming via Winspear this August, Magic Of The Sale continues to develop what the band call ‘Southern slowcore’,” we wrote back in May of the new album from Texas outfit Teethe, with addition of strings and and slide guitar adding a newfound cinematic edge to their sound. “The lead single and title track introduced the effect of this layered style. A song in which, as we put it, “a melancholic weight is shot through with something brighter, and small beams of hope manage to penetrate the dark.”
As well as representing a step forward in the evolution of the Teethe project, the style is also fitting for the themes of the record. The “band’s four distinct songwriters, singers, and artists ask a series of interlocked questions about what it means to build a life in a time of shared collapse,” as the label explains, each of Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd and Jordan Garrett bringing their own sensibilities and concerns to create something capable of conjuring hope and despair within the same breath.
Latest single ‘Holy Water’ is the perfect example. A nineties-inspired alt rock song which marbles lightness and weight, Dowd taking on vocal duties to add extra sincerity to the sound. “Water’s a-drippin’ / Take a sip and you’ll believe / In something better / In something bigger than me,” as the opening lines go. “The holy water / Yeah, I will drink to believe / In something better / When you fall down on your knees.” The result might be bathed in distortion but is anything but trapped beneath it, the upbeat tempo and heartfelt vocals suggesting transcendence of the grim present might be possible if only we have a little faith.
Cover photo by Alex Montenegro. Album Artwork by Madeline Dowd, Layout & Design by Alan “Rickman” Official