Tucker B's - 29 Serious Girlfriends

  by Geraint Jones

published: 17 / 10 / 2004

Label: Grimsey
Format: CDS

intro

Appealing left-field pop on new EP from enigmatic Australian four piece, the Tucker B's, which makes reference to Pavement, Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor

The Tucker B’s hail from Australia, though where exactly I’m not entirely sure. Neither the lack of an accompanying press release nor their almost equally uninformative website offer much in the way of any clues about that or indeed that much else about the band. I have deduced however that they’re a four-piece and that their origins date back more than 10 years and that at one time they were apparently known as the ddddddddddddddd’s – yep that’s precisely 15 ‘d’s, no more no less! Based on that at least it’s fairly safe to assume they find certain constituents of the alphabet to be an inspiration. As ’29 Serious Girlfriends’ comprises just 5 tracks though I think I should really get to the music at this point. Please don’t ask about the derivation of the title though as I have no idea about that either unfortunately. What you do get though is some fairly appealing left-field pop, the highlight being the near-7 minute ‘The More You Smoke’, which conjures up hints of Pavement, vague reminiscences of obscure Flying Nun outfits from the early 90s before cascading to a rather abrupt climax following a brief surge of Mogwai meets Godspeed You Black Emperor-like guitar pyrotechnics. Elsewhere, on the whole, the band demonstrates an equally appealing way with an off-kilter melody and song construction which maintains the interest. Only on the EP’s closing ‘Our Polluted Run Off’ do they make an indulgent and frankly annoying misstep that I could easily have lived without. So ’29 Serious Girlfriends’ is a good EP, slightly spoiled by one track, which conveniently being the last is easy to ignore without interrupting or spoiling the quality of what precedes it.

Track Listing:-