Tear Talk on Bleeding Gold Records

Beat Happening might have influenced more bands than the accessibility of the four track itself. Even with available technology like that in the '90s, it took an artist like Calvin Johnson, Beck, and Lou Barlow to enlighten aspiring bedroom artists to the possibilities. Tear Talk mentions the band as their most significant influence and it's definitely not in the ramshackle lo-fi sound but attitude. Tear Talk's own dark and minimal sound from Liverpool came from listening to goofy, heart on your sleeve Olympia, Washington USA DIY. The fact they are willing to admit that makes me like them more. They can't possibly have an agenda or are worried about their image to reference something so completely different.

A-Side's "B R E A T H E" features a chorus heavy electric and somber echo vocals, down to the tambourine that's suffocated from the reverb in such a burden of these echoes and delays like a post punk straightjacket. A Cure icy post melancholy with a little bit of keys that float in from the distance. It's dark with an epic feel, a big seriousness that Blessure Grave used to have, maybe because this is elevated into a foggy cloud of tones, the toms versus that tambourine in a funeral march. There's also a loose Joy Division influence here, taking the time to wallow in the repetition. A wash of phasered distortion overwhelms the vocal and nearly everything else. This is as deliberate as Bauhaus, forcing you through the sludge.
B-Side's "Only illusions" comes off with a little bit more chipper sounding keys only to get dragged right back down to serious tribal toms, Like Wax idols or Cold Cave. This entire sound picks up with another phaser wash but I wouldn't call this shoegaze either, everything feels separated, like it belongs and plays out its small part in the corner. Slow detached bass line, a tiny bit of emotion in the vocal but even that is hardly picking up. These chorus sections aren't epic so much as a new pile of new sounds is introduced out of nowhere while the vocals continue in their velvety echo path. You hardly hear the beginning of a strum, its spinning at 45 but they use every minute of their masterful kind of dark pop. You can hear the firm grip they have on all the classic elements, they know exactly what to do in this new approach.

We've come to expect awesome colored vinyl on Bleeding Gold Records but this stripe right down the middle is a first (3rd man take notice) and THEN they had to go die cut TT out of the outer sleeve. You barely notice anything is off at first until you pull the record out. This is serious bank breaking packaging. Unbelievable. Pick it up from the source or the band if you are across the sea.