It took me some time (a couple of months I think) to finally get on with
this review, I've found Thought Partner music very good (I will
develop later, "very good" sounds a bit short for a review ahah) since the
very first time I stumbled on their bandcamp page, that's not the point,
no it's just that these guys play a kind of music that's probably not as
easy to describe as the usual hardcore punk I usually focus on on this
page. They also explore some genres that I like a lot but that I don't
"know" as well as the good old "punk world" so I feel less legit, less
"accurate", when I draw comparisons. Anyway I listened to their latest
album once again a couple of days ago and I knew I had to do it... So here
we go!
Thought Partner is a trio from the Boston area, Massachusetts, which has
been around since 2017 or 2016 and features members from local hardcore
acts including
How We Are
and
Rat Mask. They released a first album in 2018 called
Savon
(doest it refer to the French word for soap? not clear) that I'm not going
to discuss here as I feel that I don't have much to say about it.
A little clarification for people like me who don't really
understand what a "thought partner" is, if I understood right it's a
modern management language term used by companies to describe someone who:
"Challenges your thinking. Causes you to modify or change your paradigms,
assumptions or actions. Has information or a way of thinking that provokes
you to innovate or otherwise leads to value creation in your business,
career or life"... yes that does sound like a big pile of corporate bullshit in
my opinion. Of course the band takes the piss of that newspeak and of some
corporate / office work world habits as their last album clearly elaborates.
The Work Cake title obviously makes fun of work farewell parties and what seems to be the usual kind of cake brought to this kind of event (a disgusting American supermarket kind of cake from what I see), and the cover picture is absolutely perfect. I find the whole concept funny, accurate and smart and the same time, and that doesn't happen that often to be honest (I'm a prick).
Released on Crass Lips Records in May of this year (as a tape only?), Work Cake is not some kind of fast food you ingest, digest and shit in a few minutes like first class processed chicken bones nuggets, it's a long and dense three course meal and it takes time to properly absorb all the nutrients from the ten track, 37 minute album. I "had" to listen to the whole record multiple times to finally feel like I was "in", but it was worth it.
It starts with a very post-hardcore / emo atmosphere, the three first tracks are reminiscent of the 90s Dischord catalogue (Hoover's not too quiet tracks? like TNT ?) even if Trigger Gizmo got these extra synth layers that make me think of Komplikations (that's a totally different universe I know). These tracks of Thought Partner leave space to the ears "to breath" (yes ears breath too, AirPods can kill), building a whole where the hollows and the fulls do more than follow one another, they complete each other... led by an ultra precise rhythmic which carries us between the unloading of (light) buzz-saw guitar riffs, the more or less sad and worried speeches of a vocal very much registered in this noise-rock / post-hardcore style and the more personal parts, always intelligently structured in very diverse ways.
Interstitial, as its name suggests, marks a pause with a very bass-driven, discreet, but catchy in a subtle way, instrumental track, very appropriately followed by Not Interstitial which jumps back into the post-hardcore formula but with (once again) another slightly different cooking technique, and that does work beautifully!
Final Anger 95 and In Defense Of Moderate Luxury finally let the Fugazi influences burst in the open completely (and there's nothing wrong with that!), building themselves slowly and gently with the bass and drums following the vocals in a strong emotional cruise where the guitar comes to bring, when it's necessary, the required additions to the so much awaited soaring.
Bit Rot pushes the concept to the point of falling completely into post-punk, ethereal and distant voices adding the "cold side" to a refined instrumental and that could be quite surprising when you think of the beginning of the album but, on the contrary, it comes quite naturally and marks the beginning of the end of the record. The (almost) instrumental, ethereal and harrowing Warmth and Robustess introducing the final Local Poets that wouldn't have sounded completely alien next to a Gang of Four song in the early 80's. The funky but heavy bass, the guitar notes that flies over everything and this distant, slightly desperate singing, everything's there for a great final post-punk track!
Ok maybe I got carried away a bit at times but what I'm trying to describe is the subtle evolution all along the album, from tracks "perfectly" influenced by the best American post-hardcore bands of the last century to bouncing post-punk reminiscent of the early British scene, Thought Partner cruises slowly and steadily from start to finish, making everything sounds like the right thing at the right place at the right time, which is an outstanding performance!
That's what I meant by "very good".
The three course meal didn't satisfy your hunger? How about a slice of this cake?
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