<\/a><\/p>\n

“I like the idea of Rootsy music with heavy handed\/slightly\u00a0inappropriate production.”<\/i><\/p>\n

If ever you want to forget about a breakup, making an album about one may not be the way to succeed.\u00a0 Fans will surely read into lyrics and song titles, and journalists will bring it up in interviews and critiques (no exceptions here).\u00a0 Though I suspect for Doug Tuttle<\/a>, formerly of New Hampshire\u2019s MMOSS<\/a>, recording a solo record was not only a form of catharsis, but impossible to avoid.<\/p>\n

In the past year Tuttle has relocated to Somerville, Massachusetts and written over 30 new tracks.\u00a0 He plucked out the finest 11 and dropped his self-titled solo debut on Monday via Trouble In Mind.\u00a0 The result of his ardent focus on songwriting is glaringly apparent on this record.\u00a0 The album is a close relative of his former work with MMOSS, lingering within the neo-psych-rock-shoegaze revival, though there is a sense of solitude throughout the record far more so than his prior work.\u00a0 This is in part because the songs would suit a lone listener equipped with headphones more so than a dinner party.<\/p>\n

It is not an uplifting record by any means.\u00a0 The emotional high points could be described as content at best, blissfully miserable at worst.\u00a0 But more often than anything, the songs render a sweet, dreamy numbness; as if floating through a universe of fuzzed out colors and kaleidoscopic particles and thinking: \u201cwell, that\u2019s just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The record\u2019s first track, “With Us Soon” opens with a mildly bright surge of choral harmonies similar to those of Colin Blunstone and The Zombies.\u00a0 This is one of the most audibly optimistic gems of the album and it is difficult to not mention its proximity to the sitar-licked songs of The Beatles\u2019 later work.\u00a0 Though this cheerfulness is short-lived, as the following \u201cForget the Days\u201d catapults us into longing with a clash of crying effects pedals and drone vocals.<\/p>\n

Tuttle\u2019s voice is consistently sweet yet mournful throughout. His breathy pleas never overpower the rich soundscape he\u2019s crafted.\u00a0 Though this soundscape is difficult to pick apart instrumentation-wise, because the separate elements congeal so seamlessly. Yet the album is not all low-fi-psych-wave void of instrumental prowess.\u00a0 On \u201cTurn This Love\u201d Tuttle exhibits his high aptitude for lead guitar solos, which are impressive but never overwrought.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave Your Body\u201d is another high point on the album for me.\u00a0 The opening croon of what sounds like a B-3 Organ (but I imagine is a tape effect or digital embellishment) sets a melancholic gospel mood that melts into the softer side of My Bloody Valentine.\u00a0 The song drops into minor chords that become pretty and painful all at once. “I Will Leave” is perhaps the most straightforward pop song on the record.\u00a0 With its tinges of early Simon and Garfunkel, it recounts the inevitable demise of certain relationships, a dilemma we are all too familiar with.<\/p>\n

One of the nicest things about this album is its accessibility.\u00a0 While Psychedelic music can be convoluted, esoteric and alienating, Tuttle\u2019s songs manage to omit strangeness as well as a pop sensibility that most could enjoy.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard no official news, but I suspect that with the kind of habit Tuttle has for constant songwriting, a new album is already being fleshed out.\u00a0 I personally can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

Check out Doug Tuttle\u2019s \u201cI Will Leave\u201d below:<\/p>\n