I first came across J. Tillman unwittingly, he was tub-thumper for the instrumental band Saxon Shore. Their first widely released album Four Months Of Darkness was, and still is, a huge favourite of mine, ostensibly post-rock, it made use of the usual tropes whilst sticking in organ, accordian and a brevity in album and track length. It was an incredibly emotional album for me, and perhaps there is a projection of the self in these memories, because I was going through a shitty and very lonely time in my life. The beautiful shimmering atmospheres were perfect for early morning bus rides on a winding-swooping-rising country road, passing valleys with mist pooled at the bottom, pinks and golds and reds suffusing the freezing air and unbelievable blue skies clear of any clouds. But I never really noticed the drumming, sure it was serviceable and neat, but there wasn't, and still isn't, anything remarkable about them.About two years ago someone posted on a forum that I regularly visit about this guy called J. Tillman, and his new album Minor Works. Now, I didn’t recognize the name as being from Saxon Shore because the band didn’t put any liner information about the band members on Four Months Of Darkness. But the guy on the forum, I felt, had some really cool taste in music, so of course I was willing to give this Tillman guy a go. Now, I hesitate to use the word ‘sensitive’ because of various negative connotations that it has accrued over the last decade or so, but when I first heard ‘Darling Night’, the first track off Minor Works, it was what immediately came to mind. There is a fragility and a hurt in Tillman’s voice that can knock you flat the first time you hear it, and it embodies some of the best things I look for when listening to country/Americana influenced music. His voice is strong, but high up in the register and with the ability to pull out a thinness when needed. A country twang hovers just out of sight and there is a strong but indefinable, (to this English guy, anyway), American accent. That’s not all, because there is also a stoic solidity in there too, borne out in the lyrical content as well as the delivery, hardly ever do you sense that the guy is feeling sorry for himself, he just talks about the realities and the sadness of relationships and life sans schmaltz.
As an album, Minor Works is slightly long and slightly over-orchestrated, but this can be forgiven due to the strength of songwriting found throughout. Violins, lap steel, piano and Tillman’s steady picking and strumming on the acoustic are the usual components. ‘With Wolves’ and ‘Minor Works’ are my stand-out tracks, there is a startling austerity of vocals and an acoustic guitar on ‘Minor Works’, and ‘With Wolves’ is more focused and meanders less than most.
The source of long tracks and meandering can be found if you go back to one of his first albums Long May You Run from (I think) 2005, which had a limited release. Here songs sometimes go to 6 or 7 minutes, and it is all performed by just Tillman and his guitar, a very minimal aesthetic. The meandering spirit of these songs speak clearly of his next album Minor Works, it seems as though he got a better distribution deal and decided to give the style of songwriting found on Long May You Run the full-band treatment. What gets highlighted when you listen to Long May You Run is Tillman’s guitar playing, un-flashy picked riffs and strummed progressions that manage to find a wide landscape to explore, and he seems so intent on exhausting that landscape that the songs get pushed to slightly unusual times for this sort of music. I would be lying if I didn’t say it can get a little boring as he cycles through every permutation and repetition of themes on his guitar, but when it works out well it takes you along for the ride through those places. The vocals have the same work to do as the guitar due to the minimal style, and they step up brilliantly. Quieter, sadder and lonelier than Minor Works, and yet somehow stronger, more melodic and more beautiful. ‘My Waking Days’ is probably my favourite J. Tillman song, twanging and yearning vocals, later on there is whistling and throughout a foreboding sense of inevitability. ‘Wayward Glance Blues’ strikes close to Jason Molina/Songs: Ohia territory, a touchstone for most of this album, really.
Now we come to the album I’ve been listening to, for the first time, all this week. Cancer And Delirium was released around April last year. It’s a cliché, but he really does meld together both of the albums I’ve been talking about, really well recorded like Minor Works, and with some well thought out but never over-done extra instrumentation, and astutely austere like Long May You Run. Then there is a tone that is all new, a slight lifting of the mood and an almost communal feel. Tillman became friends with Damien Jurado at some point over these three albums, which is utterly unsurprising because he is another obvious touchstone for the music, much like Jason Molina. It seems possible that Jurado’s brilliant Ghost Of David album from 2002 might have influenced Cancer And Delirium, although the extreme sadness of some of Tillman’s work has been scaled back, there is enough there to strike a chord with Jurado’s album. First track on Cancer…‘Visions Of A Troubled Mind’ could be a brother, literally, to first track ‘Medication’ off of Ghost…. There is also a subtle ambience in the background of some tracks, possibly passing cars, and a great attention to detail in the recording of the album, much like on Ghost….Anyway, this meld of parts from his previous releases makes this possibly my favourite J. Tillman album. ‘When I Light Your Darkened Door’ has intentional lo-fi recording with tape ambience surrounding a blues-inspired song, a dire confessional. ‘A Fine Suit’ has that deep swirling sound of a storm in the background as Tillman regretfully sings of trading it all in for a ‘wrist watch, a pine box and a fine suit’, as strings mournfully moan, a banjo is quietly plucked and a piano slowly but gracefully stumbles. ‘Ribbons Of Glass’ showcases some old time folk style with banjo and close group harmony, something he’ll be doing a lot more now that he has joined Fleet Foxes. And, I swear I hear an organ sound straight from the Saxon Shore album mentioned earlier. There’s a deep bass, piano and some crisp drumming as the song progresses. Plus, it has a great name.
So there is J. Tillman as of now, he has a new album coming out this year called Vacilando Territory Blues, which will make it at least 4 albums in 4 years from the man, some tracks from the new one can be heard on his myspace and some tracks from Cancer And Delirium on hi last.fm page. And he is the newest member of hot-shit band of the moment Fleet Foxes, as a touring and, eventually, recording member, a fine addition I’m sure, maybe I should start listening to Fleet Foxes now?
[TLOBF Loves... J. Tillman, I'm pretty pleased with the un-edited and edited versions of this, really]
