Vacilando Territory Blues

It’s a good time to be Josh Tillman, he said it himself in a recent interview: “This is what I’ve wanted for fifteen years and now it’s here!” Tillman was talking about touring with Fleet Foxes, the band he drums and sings with. And as the end of year plaudits for Tillman and the band wash into 2009, he’s found a moment to sneak in his fifth solo album Vacilando Territory Blues.

Perhaps the album’s opener offers the frankest summary of the entire record: “All you don’t know you are forbidden.“ It’s as if Tillman were talking directly to you. There’s a real sense of restraint running across these thirteen songs, it takes time for their depths to be realised. But upon each listen they reveal something new, something that could never have been there the first time round. Tillman’s songs have a damaged feel to them, sung by a protagonist willing to reveal very little, offering only slightly more in brief, stirring string arrangements and the intermittent gallop of tom-toms. Again the lyrics offer some insight: “You can’t break what you can’t borrow,” sings Tillman on ‘Barter Blues’. This mysteriousness could be a downer on what is an intelligently arranged record, but it’s the stirring violins on this track that suggest these minor glimpses of Tillman’s trauma to be the right artistic decision.

One surprising aspect of VTB is that it’s generally without any humour. At Fleet Foxes’ Manchester date back in June, Tillman ran the chatter in-between songs while much of the time Robin Pecknold and the Foxes out front had to stop tuning their guitars because they were laughing so hard. But if Tillman’s rampant sense of humour isn’t here (keep in mind it is ‘Blues’) his intelligence is clear in the decisions to remain hidden, for the songs’ voice to be Tillman’s by name, but never entirely by ear.

There is a danger that VTB could be lost on many of its listeners, but an optimist would suggest that Fleet Foxes’ devoted fan base is willing to give Tillman their time and money. The greater appeal upon multiple listens could possibly still be the record’s flaw and there’s also the issue of a missed opportunity. Eight tracks in, ‘Barter Blues’ feels like VTB’s watershed moment, where the record finally comes to life, fulfilling much of the potential suggested in the subtle piano hook of ‘Firstborn’ and Tillman’s sweet harmonising on ‘Vessels’. But the final half doesn’t take the listener much further, and the cooing and guitar string thrumming can be uninteresting at times. There are moments to be had here, but it’s unclear whether they are too few. Time will tell for J. Tillman.