By no means strangers to atmospheric experimentation, UK’s rock reinventors TOR favour a doom-drenched, lyrically dense critique on counter-culture, and their brand of ‘minimal miserabilism’ is demanding of multiple listens to fully grasp the weight of the albums material. Musically, they are most akin to groups such as Lungfish and Slint, however the lyrics lean more towards the dark comedy of someone such as Stewart Lee. Today, we’re pleased to share the premiere of their new slowly crawling, trippy track “Whale”, coming off their excellent new LP ‘Too Happy‘, recorded by Andy Ramsay (Stereolab, Wire, King Krule, Mount Kimbie) and mastered by Brad Boatright (Old Man Gloom, Pelican, Yob), to be released on vinyl and all digital formats by Truthseeker Music on May 25th!
‘Whale’ is a song that has been swimming around TOR waters for many years, and is both the oldest track on Too Happy and the newest product of painstakingly developing a sound. The riff was written by Paul, our drummer, and had been dutifully squashed for fear of it becoming a another Yellow Submarine. It was one of those hackneyed grooves that kept cropping up in soundchecks and practices and became a way to try out different sounds.
Like all the songs on the album, ‘Whale’ was recorded live in the same room to bring out that wavy groove and tempo, but with added feedback manipulation from our guitarist, Seb, who spent a day squeeling on his knees in front of an amp laying down noise.
Lyrically, the track was inspired by Tristan’s encounter with kids watching porn on the tablets in McDonalds, his own high blood pressure, and painted-on cleavages.
Check out two previously released tracks I’m A Goth and Long Distance Jelly below:
