The Toot Toot Toots have upped their name and their game with their second LP Bad Love. Trading in the old moniker for the more internationally/everybody friendly Twin Beasts, the Melbourne five-piece have also departed from the concept-driven style of their earlier work, in favour of more individualised stories, whilst remaining equally as gritty and lovelorn.
The alt-country grit-pop cowboys found success with their 2012 debut LP Outlaws, a self-described “spaghetti western rock opera” that featured as an ABC Radio’s National Album of the Week. For this and their prior EP’s they were known as The Toot Toot Toots, until they found that the name was being lost in translation overseas, with ‘toot’ often interpreted to mean ‘fart’.
When Nick Cave met Morricone… Melbourne’s Twin Beasts – formally The Toot Toot Toots – have upped their name and their game with the release of their Bad Love LP.
I wonder if R Kelly had the same problem with the chorus of Ignition? He has enough troubles… Anyway, for their second full-length effort they shacked up with ARIA nominated producer Burke Reid (The Drones, Oh Mercy, Gerling) and despite the name change, assured fans that everything else would be business as usual.There was one further development though, the move away from an umbrella theme in favour of singular “perverse, violent and depressing love stories”.
Bad Love rides in on the latest single Sweet Marie, a strummy, upbeat and poppier tune with quirky backup singing. Together Lonely reverts to the western-twanged and more sombre approach, developing a balance between the two beasts that are Danny Eucalyptus’ clean natural singing and his addictive grizzled rasp, the gloomy yet catchy chorus forcing out your best Louis Armstrong impression.
The title track takes on the perspective of a desperate husband falling for a choir girl, with driving bass, swaggering vocals and a dose of cowbell thrown in for good measure. Wasting Time steps away from the southern style for a moment with more traditional pop-rock guitar and keys, before I’m No Good delves back into the dumps and Deep South. Stripped back with plenty of reverb on the spaced out chords, the mournful ode of the flawed could be straight off the Kill Bill soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGgE-wKRl0A
Often compared to 60’s and 70’s film composer Ennio Morricone, as well as Aussie storyteller Nick Cave, Fast as Love exhibits the best of both influences; mariachi horns mixed with plenty of Cave grit, complete the rousing courtship chronicle.
Deadbeat Blues is as downtrodden as the title suggests, with angelic backup singing in stark contrast with the narrator’s confession to his child: having been only marginally less lacklustre than his own father. Eucalyptus lets the Aussie intonation ride on the folksy road trip tale Wicked Boys, until the closing track Let It Die fades the album out on the back of faint organ chords and gospel harmonies, the slowest track on the album.
Despite rebranding, the guys have managed to stick to their guns and take giant strides in the right direction. The less tailored approach has enabled the album to feel more complete and natural, whilst the vocals continue to take the fore atop Twin Beasts’ “big hooks and solid rhythms”. The result is a powerful and soulful exploration of love, lust and loss; both seductive and seedy.
The guys are touring Bad Love around various parts of Australia from the end of May through June, with more details available on their website. So check out Bad Love; if we haven’t convinced you yet, there’s a naked girl on the cover.
TOUR DATES AS FOLLOWS!
Thurs 29 May
The Steyne, Manly, NSW
Fri 30 May
FBI Social, Sydney, NSW
Sat 31 May
Rad Bar, Wollongong, NSW
Fri 6 June
The Corner, Melbourne, VIC
Thurs 12 June
The Loft , Gold Coast, QLD
Fri 13 June
Solbar, Maroochydore, QLD
Sat 14 June
Beetle Bar, Brisbane, QLD
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