Tired Pony

[a-chan]

Another amazing review:

 

Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and Peter Buck of REM have created the ultimate supergroup and left their comfort zones, says Dan Cairns.

 

One of the habits of REM’s Peter Buck has picked up after years as a touring musician is to collect miniature bottles of Tabasco at every stop. He uses them to spice up the “endlessly band cheese sandwiches and stuff” that are standard out-of-hours fuel at many hotels. Standing in a hotel corridor in Berlin, where REM are recording their next album, Buck has two fistfuls of the things and looks happy with his haul.

 

Taking a day off from the studio, the guitarist is joining another moonlighting big-band rock star, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, to talk about The Place We Ran From, an album they have just made together under the name Tired Pony.

 

Snow Patrol’s detractors would no doubt seek to draw a parallel here: Buck, the multi-instrumental magician, adding spice to what critics see as Lightbody’s innate beigeness. Yet both men, with equal conviction, describe working on the project as eye-opening and, on occasion, even humbling. They don’t do this out of politeness or a desire to reassure. Hearing them talk about recording sessions at the Type Foundry, a rambling attic space in Portland, Oregon, where the rain beat down on the roof and most of the songs were recorded live, in a couple of takes, you get the impression that they found the experience transformative. Lightbody, who with Snow Patrol has perfect the art of minimal, circular chord patterns, lachrymose lyrics and keening vocals, clearly sought a change, a place outside of his comfort zone. Initially, he thought he was writing a country record ( he’s leant that way before; the chorus of Snow Patrol’s Open Your Eyes is practically encrusted with rhinestones), but his fidelity to those old devices of patient layers and brilliant crescendos couldn’t be broken.

 

Buck, who admits to being “kind of a formalist – you know, intro, verse, bridge, chorus”, found the process “scary – but I like to put myself in a position where I’m terrified. I think we all walked through that front door thinking, ‘We don’t know any songs, I don’t even know what instrument I’ll be playing.’ Gary could go, ‘Here are these four chords’, and we’d go, ‘Okay’. The only structure was the vocal. I’d never had that experience – working on a song with this really emotional voacl in my ears while figuring out what to play. It was haunting and moving.’

The MD of the project was the producer Garrent “Jacknife” Lee, who has worked with both bands in the past. Joining the trio came three longtime Lightbody collaborators, the songwriter Iain Archer, Troy Steward and Beele and Sebastian’s drummer, Richard Colburn, as well as REM’s auxiliary member, Scott McCaughey, the American guitarist M Ward and his She & Him partner, Zooey Deschanel. Tom Smith of Editors sings on one track, and a fabulously names local female singing group, the She Bee Gees ( yes, they cover the Brothers Gibb), join in on backing vocals. So intimate and up close are the results, each note, each silence, each change of key and pace achieves a huge impact.

 

And something has happened to Lightbody’s singing and lyric writing. The former roams far beyond his customary safe ground of doleful crooning. The latter aims much higher than he thought of reaching for in the past. With Snow Patrol, she says sheepishly, it was always about his love life. With Tired Pony, he’s tackling something bigger: America. Even the titles evoke the wide screen, the open road, the point on the horizon, the hope of a better life across the state line: Dead American Writers, Get on the Road, Northwestern Skies, Held in the Arms of Your Love. “The whole record is about America”, the 34-year-old says with fervour. “It’s written in America, about America; it’s something I’ve had in my mind for years, but it never felt right with Snow Patrol. Starting a band with great American musicians, and making a record in Portland, under these giant American skies felt different. And I wanted America, I just wanted it, really, really badly, from when I was very young. The last five years [touring there with Snow Patrol], I’ve spent devouring it. I guess I got to the stage where I just couldn’t shut up about it. I had to make the record.” He found it liberating. “With lyrics, I can get myself tied up in knots, especially with Snow Patrol. But I felt I understood the characters I was writing about. Plus, it wasn’t about me. All the other albums I’ve written have been about me and my love life.”

 

On this album, Lightbody’s antiheroes are weak men clinging on to unrealisable dreams and overreaching schemes; farmers, writers, travelling salesmen, suicides, nearing the end of their road, of their luck; liars, cheats, self-deluders, labouring beneath tempestuous skies, in denial about relationships broken beyond repair. Underpinning these stories, the instruments and textures – mandolin, dulcimer, sonorous piano, pedal steel and finger-picked acoustic guitar, ghostly backing vocals, spare, utterly simple drum patterns, a triangle, a xylophone, a saw – enter , drop out, augment, hold back, enter again, with a subtlety that, without warning, will burst into violent, visceral life.

 

Such romance as there is either doomed (Point Me at Lost Islands), picked over ( that Silver Necklace, with its wonderful line, “I’m too scared you’ll agree we need to talk”) or the last though on a man’s mind before he plunged into the abyss ( the Deepest Ocean There IS). Listening to the album is an amazingly sensitising experience: your sense jangle long after the final chord. That’s exactly, says Buck, how it felt to make.

 

Like Lightbody, who had side-project form with the likes of Scottish musical-mafia collective the Reindeer Section, Buck has always like o forage – with Minus 5, Robert Fripp and Eels, among others. But he found Tired Pony a revelation. “I think the reason people don’t collaborate more is that it’s scary – everyone I’ve ever worked with, the first day you go in, you could look stupid, you could play badly. We’ve sold a lot of records, but you still know, someday, someone may point to you and go ‘You’re faking it’, or ‘You can’t do it’. Everyone has that fear.”

 

“The first time [REM] played South Central Rain,” Buck continues, “I really cried. By the time we got to record it, we’d been playing it live for three months – which was fine. But making this album was an experience where the listening and playing and the emotion all occurred at the same time. I was wrung out at the end of each day, soaked through with sweat. There were these waves of sadness and this feeling of ‘I didn’t just play this, I experience it’.” Beside him, Lightbody smiles. Like a man whose musical life is not in need of any extra spice.

 

Taken from The Sunday Times

[fietssleutel]

Album in one file: http://www.mediafire.com/?5h2vxtvmxmy

 

*kicks slow internet* :dozey:

[coldplay_is_louve.]

Great review! :cheesy:

 

 

Well, I think you have to listen to the worth to appreciate the better later ^^ When you're kid or teenager, I think it's normal to listen to this stuff. We all did! Plus it depends on what you expect of music. Some people just want something in the background to dance or listen slightly and other want sthg more :)

 

Very true. I'm a victim of it as well. :P

[iPsy]

Downloading the album...I haven't heard ANYTHING by them before, but hoping the albums good :D Gary better not let me down...he hasn't done yet ;)

[muzika]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOhm1LZfNpU&playnext_from=TL&videos=84NOb6pY54E&feature=sub]YouTube- Tired Pony - REM meets Snow Patrol[/ame]

da da dam

[arwen88]

Thanks for the video, this interview is very interesting! :)

[iPsy]

I'm liking the album on first listen :D

[lndnsky]

I'm totally in love. The album is really really great. Some song make me cry and thats a good thing.

[a-chan]

Another ITV: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/day-and-night/features/easy-rider-2252164.html

 

I noticed THIS

We're hoping to record another [Tired Pony] one before the end of the year."

:awesome: I hope they'll be able to do so!!

 

The BBC ITV is great too ^^

 

I've found the album at my local store, I was pretty astonished to find it! :dance: Now can't wait for wednesday!

 

I'm totally in love. The album is really really great. Some song make me cry and thats a good thing.

Yeah me too...I was tearing up on my coach, I think I must have look pretty pathetic XD

[coldplay_is_louve.]

The album is WONDERFUL to listen to while driving, just to let you know. Went to NYC yesterday and listened to the entire thing there and back. :D

[a-chan]

I red carefully the lyrics in the booklet, and seriously, Gary has outdone himself!

When falling feels like flying, there's a dangerous hope...cause the ground comes at you faster than you think.

 

Kiss like a fight that neither wins, a tender payment for our sins...you are the drug I can't quit, your perfect chaos is a perfect fit.

 

Held in the arms of your words in its totality

 

:bomb: :bigcry: It's TOO beautiful!!!

[coldplay_is_louve.]

GODDAMN the man's a musical genius.

[Mig-El]

:D awesome, I'm liking what I have listened to, but I'm waiting to see if I can get a copy of the cd

[a-chan]

GODDAMN the man's a musical genius.

+10000000000 He's a brilliant lyricist. Pity his talent is not very recognized though...

 

My sister and bro in law went to dine with me today and I was listening to TP, they loved it :D

[coldplay_is_louve.]

I just came back from buying both the CD and the vinyl. :cheesy: The vinyl will be hanging on my wall with the rest of my collection in a matter of minutes.

[iPsy]

God...this album is amazing! :bomb:

 

I've just been blown away!

 

 

Just like this.....:bomb:

[Pink]

I spent the money and pre-ordered it from amazon.uk (I'm in the states). I got notice that it shipped 7/10 but isn't due to arrive until AUGUST 2!!! Huh??? Is it coming by row boat? Really pissed. :angry:

[lndnsky]

I red carefully the lyrics in the booklet, and seriously, Gary has outdone himself!

When falling feels like flying, there's a dangerous hope...cause the ground comes at you faster than you think.

 

Kiss like a fight that neither wins, a tender payment for our sins...you are the drug I can't quit, your perfect chaos is a perfect fit.

 

Held in the arms of your words in its totality

 

:bomb: :bigcry: It's TOO beautiful!!!

 

+100000000000

I love the lyrics. He really outdone himself.

[coldplay_is_louve.]

I'm SO jealous of you guys going tomorrow! Take LOTS of videos!

[jenflor]

I just came back from buying both the CD and the vinyl. :cheesy: The vinyl will be hanging on my wall with the rest of my collection in a matter of minutes.

 

Christina, where were you able to get it??

[jenflor]

I spent the money and pre-ordered it from amazon.uk (I'm in the states). I got notice that it shipped 7/10 but isn't due to arrive until AUGUST 2!!! Huh??? Is it coming by row boat? Really pissed. :angry:

 

:( I'm sorry to hear that! I almost did amazon.uk, but then I noticed on US amazon it was available starting 7/20. I pre-ordered it there. We'll see if it actually ships then, or if it ends up being a week later. the estimated delivery date is 7/26.

[fietssleutel]

This album is so much better than the last Snow Patrol one. :nice:

[coldplay_is_louve.]

Christina, where were you able to get it??

 

Amazon (UK).

 

It's more expensive, but worth it. :D

[arwen88]

Finally got my copy in hand!! ^^

Can't stop listening to it since Monday, it's like I'm re-discovering each song every time! I couldn't make a proper review of it, I might not be objective.. let's just say that this album is a real diamond! Both lyrics and music are breathtaking! The guys (especially Gary for the lyrics) have outdone themselves, a big thank you to them!

 

I'm SO jealous of you guys going tomorrow! Take LOTS of videos!

I can't believe this is tomorrow, I'm getting more and more excited! :dance: Of course, I'm taking my camera with me, so I hope that we'll be able to take pics and videos (don't know if the venue is against that or not..) but I guess it'll be ok!

[coldplay_is_louve.]

You're so lucky! Have fun! :kiss:

 

Yeah, I'm having trouble thinking of a review to write, too. This album's taken the words right out of my mouth. :heart: It's perfect.