Detroit’s Tin Foil doesn’t seem to care much for formalities so all you need to know is that this is their second album, they think it’s better than their first and it was recorded in 2019, but then, well you know what happened, so here we are.
As far as music goes, Tin Foil actually sounds like Detroit. Their sound is workman-like, a strange but effective mix of Crazy Horse and James Gang and Dinosaur Jr. and Meat Puppets. They play with what seems like purposeful sloppiness, kicking out a bunch of sweaty jams with rambling guitars, crashing drums, and aloof vocals.
It’s a slight, slight departure from the 2017 debut but I get the sense that they weren’t trying to change, they’ve just grown more comfortable in their skin. On these 10 tracks, they threw open the garage door and let it all flow with surprising authenticity. Opener ‘Thin Ties‘ has a Sonic Youth snarl, while ‘Bored Games‘, is an amplified rocker but both are true to their rock and roll roots. ‘Wax and Hash‘ is probably the closest thing to the hooky garage rock of ‘Shapes of Savannah‘ from the first album while ‘Sarah Left‘ and ‘Fuck Heads’ have an early Black Lips swampiness to them.
‘Into the Fish‘ is my favorite track on the record. It’s a bright mid-tempo tune that sounds like it was transported from an 8-track player in a souped-up GTO. ‘Loiter‘ stumbles around unsteady like the boys had a few, and Stonesy country twang permeates songs like ‘Power Pointer‘, and ‘Dumb Road‘. Closer ‘Mutated Beats‘ starts out rocking but starts to disintegrate halfway through.
Even though they pull in a lot of suggestive grooves on ‘Two‘, ultimately nothing here sounds out of place or exactly like anyone else. It’s all perfectly cohesively disorganized. If the summer of 2021 turns out to let us travel again, this is a definite road trip record.
Out now on Almost Ready Records
