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Truly
Feeling You Up Thick Records It seems you can't legally start a band without an ex-member of some huge group either leading or lurking in the background these days. Soon, many of those bands are bound to contain ex-members of Soundgarden. Truly is covered twice over. The band features Hiro Yamamoto, the most ex-member of that band, and ex-Screaming Trees pounder Mark Pickerel. Hopefully, the break-up of one of the smartest bands in rock - Soundgarden - will at least throw some attention Truly's way. Some good has to come of it. Feeling You Up, Truly's second album, isn't necessarily what you'd expect from heavy hitters like Yamamoto and Pickerel. While not lacking in intensity, the songs are more lush than severe, more trippy than bombastic. The band has clear designs on early Pink Floyd, not Black Sabbath. Songs like "It's on Your Face" wouldn't necessarily sound all that out of place on Works or Meddle. And while no one in the band quite approached Dave Gilmour's tasteful virtuosity, they do a great job of capturing the same aesthetic. Lead singer and axeman Robert Roth compliments his washed-out feedback and somewhat sour vocals with Hammond organs, mellotrons, and moogs. Yamamoto is most out front in songs like "Air Raid," keeping the song bobbing along while the piano, moog, and guitar riffing pop in and out of the arrangement. Pickerel has the thankless job of playing just what is needed for the song, whether that means playing a splashy fill or just laying down the beat. Roth gets top billing on the songwriting credits, which seems to indicate that Yamamoto and Pickerel formed around someone they thought was a talented songwriter and player, rather than deciding to form a supergroup and finding a hired gun. If Feeling You Up is any indication, the formula works. -Nick |
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