Tilly And The Wall

Tilly and the Wall are to music what Scientology is to religion. The people that believe, really REALLY believe, while the rest of us are left scratching our heads and wondering ‘what the hell are they thinking?’

The band formed in Omaha, Nebraska and their roots lie with several members being part of former group Park Ave, which was one of Conor Oberst’s pre-Bright Eyes incarnations. Since his success, Oberst has championed Tilly & the Wall with a Tom Cruise-like zeal and has both signed them to his Record Label and had the group supporting him on tour.



With two albums under their belt, ‘Wild Like Children’ & ‘Bottoms of Barrels’, Tilly & the Wall may have a repertoire of feel good indie pop songs that sound pretty decent when tweaked in the studio, but I’m afraid to say that they lack what it takes to perform their songs live. It didn’t seem to matter that much to the members of the Manchester audience crowding the stage though, perhaps because while they may not have sounded brilliant, there’s certainly no denying they believe in what they’re doing and they do it with a lot of enthusiasm.

They also have a great gimmick (and their fans are going to hate me calling it that). Band member Jamie Pressnall (nee Williams) is a tap dancer. Without a drummer it’s left up to Pressnall and the other girls in the group, who add clapping and stomping into the mix, to hold down the rhythm. This she did with gusto - arms flailing and legs clad in purple lycra, Jamie is certainly more interesting to watch than your average percussionist.


I don’t mind a gimmick - Misty’s Big Adventure have Erotic Volvo, the costumed dancing monster – and neither do I mind cutesy indie geek bands singing about sunshine and first kisses. There are plenty of bands creating great percussion led music that reminds us of the halcyon days of our childhoods like Belle & Sebastian, The Polyphonic Spree and Architecture in Helsinki. The difference is, these groups can actually play their instruments and sing in tune.

Keyboardist Nick White needn’t have really been there as most of his pieces seemed to have been pre-recorded and while the band’s female singers Kianna Alarid and Neely Jenkins are attractive, trendy & well inked, their voices sounded so pitchy and weak they might as well have been singing into a vacuum.



Sure, you could argue that Tilly & the Wall would sound better in a venue with superior acoustics, but after spending so long setting up, there’s no way you could blame a poor sound check for the noise emanating from that stage. The venue was stupendously hot and the band only started after a pretty inexcusable 20 minute delay where even their most ardent followers in the front row were starting to get a little antsy.

Once the band finally appeared, it wasn’t long before unofficial band leader, guitarist Derek Pressnall was dripping with sweat. Dancing like Elvis with his legs tied together (an intriguing torso roll with guitar in hand) he alternated with Alarid and Jenkins to sing lead vocals and while his singing style also lacks finesse, at least he has some power behind his voice.



Between moments of complete chaos and confusion, the band worked through eleven songs spanning both of their LP’s, but after 45 minutes of the same old same old, accompanied by that non stop interminable tapping, the novelty value for this reviewer had long run out. It was only their final song; ‘Bad Education’ with its Flamenco inspired riff that the feet as percussion sound actually seemed to have a point.

Making my way through several rows of ardent fans screaming for an encore I found myself in a bar surprisingly empty for one that had until recently been rammed with excited punters. This review aside, you’ll find nothing to read but glowing praise for Tilly & the Wall, but I wonder if many at the Night & Day thought along the same lines as I did and decided to leave early. If this was the music from the Bottoms of Barrels, you can consider them pretty much scraped.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.