The Big Mess

Album review

Following an extended hiatus, Tanlines return with their introspective yet still anthemic third album, 2023's The Big Mess. The record, which arrives eight years after 2015's Highlights, reunites the duo of singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist Eric Emm and percussionist and instrumentalist Jesse Cohen. Having initially established themselves in Brooklyn as purveyors of arty, indie electronic pop in the vein of Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot, Tanlines spent much of the time after Highlights away from each other, with Emm moving his family to Connecticut and Cohen working a marketing job in New York. They stayed in touch, but the COVID-19 pandemic only further delayed any recording projects. By the time they reconnected in 2022, Emm had amassed most of the songs that eventually made it onto The Big Mess. Co-produced with Patrick Ford and mixed by Peter Katis, the album feels much more ruminative than the pair's previous work. It's an album that's infused with the kind of epic yearning for the past and simpler times that can come with entering one's forties during the band's time apart. They capture this vibe on the title track, a slowly driving rock anthem in which Emm opines, "It's been a long time since the campfire days, I have a hard time imagining/It's been forever since we had the chance to reminisce." The song feels like the tense lead-up to an accident, or an expected death scene in a movie, and perfectly sets the tone for what follows. Without ever romanticizing the past, Tanlines dig into the difficulty and joy of everyday life and how just getting by is sometimes the best you can do. There's also a moody paranoia running through the album that feels particularly post-pandemic, as if Emm is struggling with how to make life work. It's a sentiment he underlines on "New Reality" singing, "I'm just trying to be me, in this new reality." With Emm's voice having marinated into a deep baritone croon and with the duo leaning into a more organic, guitar-based sound, they sound less upbeat and more akin to the laconic post-punk of Nick Cave or the National. Still, there are kinetic moments here, as on "Clouds" and "Unreal," where bass grooves and airy synth and guitar textures evince a more muted, '80s new wave club atmosphere. With The Big Mess, Tanlines capture the memory of dancing and the way reminiscing about the past can often well up feelings deep in your bones.
© Matt Collar /TiVo