REVIEW: Tigon’s “Infinite Teeth”
Infinite Teeth (The Ghost is Clear/New Atlantis) is an album by a band that knows what it takes to create a sound, goes for the definitive touches but also loves to test their own limits by trying things that some will not expect upon first listening. The band are called Tigon, and while one can help define them by hearing each of these songs, it’s how they twist up their influences that make this album a trip to hear.
Now imagine this: indie rock. Okay, I know that may be a weak term to use but when one thinks indie rock, I tend to look for bands that aren’t afraid to mess with what they do because they don’t have to cater to anyone else’s formula but their own. That’s where the journey begins. Rock, hardcore, metal, sludge, math rock, progressive rock, punk: it reminds me of wishing Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers had left and had taken a solo route, but also got the guys from Helmet, Cro-Mags,and For Love Not Lisa to create a hybrid of a beast where you can’t control its pace and tactics. A track like “Whale Maker” is a perfect example, where the music and lyrics sound like a whale coming out of the ocean, but instead of easing up on the beach to become comfortable, it flops itself around like tuna and grows in size as vocalist sings “do you feel safe… do you fit in, do you fit in… are you safe, are you safe”, before the band unleashes their musical weapons on one another and creates a sound that’s incredible before easing up to recalibrate for their next song. Then you have a track like “Tortoise Goes To Burning Man”, where the fierce crunch is layered with nice vocals courtesy of Sara Carpenter, and it blends beautifully.
What I also enjoy is how they know how to get as much impact as possible by limiting themselves in songs under two minutes, but they also know how to color the soundscape with songs that run five or seven minutes, including the 7:53 duration of “Prophetess”, where things enter a Melvins/Eyehategod/Buzzov•en-type grind and you never want that wide-open eye feeling to stop.
Infinite Teeth is also the perfect length (just over 38 minutes), so if one gets off on this and feels a need to express themselves as the band punches them with volume, they can take it to the stage. Tigon are a band who enjoy variety, and hope to find others who enjoy the unknown twists as they do.
What do you think?