Like a Heath Robinson Nick Cave, Thomas Truax doesn't so much sing as intone – to the backdrop of an array of self-invented mechanical contraptions that click, whirr, thump and twang.
In general I'm not so much of a fan of invention and sound-experimentation for its own sake –being more of a song-orientated kind of chap – but Thomas Truax is genuinely innovative and (in his arrangements and performances, at least) eccentric.
This is someone, you feel, for whom the marketability of 'quirky' characteristics is not a consideration.
He's properly into that shit.
Cogwheel Dogs supported him in his Oxford show, last night, and he seemed an extremely pleasant fellow. Rather louche, too, I thought: he has a good look.
Have a gander at this video for Prove it to my Daughter, today's (er, that is, Thursday's. Heavy Soil is a little behind) song of the day:
... and, for an idea of his live shows (he and his machines make all the sounds: no backing musicians):
If you like what you see/hear, you may care to download an mp3 or two from his site. There are a couple of freebies – though these are perhaps not his strongest songs.
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1 comment:
I wish I'd been able to come to that gig, you know I still haven't seen Cogwheel Dogs in their current guise! And this Thomas Truax fellow looks rather entertaining. I'd say he's the musical equivalent of Guy Maddin, director of films like "The Saddest Music in the World". Very evocative of some strange dream-like world, not necessarily making sense but you'll go along with it. Although I probably prefer Maddin's films to Truax's music. I'm a tough customer though. And a bastard.
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