Tusk - Boy Bruce, The Mighty Atom/Subtle Fun

Single review by KevW

Poor old traditional British guitar music. It's taken a right pounding recently, especially thanks to monstrosities like Viva Brother and Beady Eye not realising everyone grew out of the whole laddish bravado thing in about 1996. It's either been lo-fi, shoegaze or a unique and inventive slant for UK alternative rock bands to avoid snide comments and press derision of late. Unfair maybe, but things change and rehashing Britpop will only work if staggeringly good tunes are involved. Newcastle's Tusk sit somewhere in the middle of all of this, and it could be the making of them. They're a traditional guitar band at heart who come across as self-assured but certainly not arrogant and up their own arses.

Plus their sound is conventional enough to keep crowds happy, yet they bring their own style to things. There's a sense of atmosphere emanating from these songs that's more than just rock 'n' roll bluster. The moody 'Boy Bruce, The Mighty Atom' has just the right level of experimentation to attract fans from across the spectrum, from Oasis to Radiohead to Foals. 'Subtle Fun' is better still, the math-rock guitars bringing an appealing depth and variation, and the choppy rhythm shows they're no slaves to structures. So in terms of sound they've found a comfortable niche that could serve them well. The songs are decent too, but neither will go down as classics. If they can maintain their position and produce a couple killer tunes to go with it, they could be a great proposition.



Tusk's website

The single will be available on August 27th from Tusk's bandcamp page





For more news, reviews and downloads follow The Sound Of Confusion on Facebook or Twitter

soundofconfusion@hotmail.co.uk