TOI - Album Review: Restless
For the supporters, for anyone who has seen Tunes of I perform live or were impressed by their EP, T.O.I., which received high praise from muzic.net.nz on its release, I can attest that Restless, Tunes of I's debut album is worth the anticipation. Fleshed out as a seven-piece and helmed by a solid production team, this album captures the energy of a band that was born to be out on the main stage.
Restless is another child of the popular and largely successful crowd-funding model offered by Kickstarter, which for emerging bands is a good way to feel out an audience and find your niche, something I can’t imagine would have been that difficult for a band such as this.
Fashioned in the successful style of Six60, The Black Seeds, Kora, Fat Freddy’s Drop and other purveyors of the Dub/Roots sound we define as distinctly Kiwi, Tunes of I stand up with their contemporaries.
To stand out there are these subtle fusions within certain songs, little snippets of New Orleans calypso and injections of improvised Jazzy blues, that make Restless sound like the soundtrack to a Jamaican hard-boiled Neo-Noir film.
Strongest points of the album for me; the acoustic trail off that is the track See It Right, which is a track full of subtlety and moments of beauty and the emotional crux of the album, and also the progressive breakdown in the track Restless, which is restless in both name and style. That breakdown is sure to be a crowdpleaser, a real mover and shaker and coming closer to a genre I’m familiar with.
On a whole, Restless is a showcase of the band’s strengths, a testament to a level of musicianship beyond their years, and just a taste of what is sure to be a long and fruitful music career for Tunes of I.
Restless is available for pre-order from iTunes from November 2, or visit the website http://www.tunesofi.com/. You can hear their first taster Tautoko on the band’s YouTube channel.
About TOI
Having recently celebrated six years as a band, TOI have been working hard to cement their place in the New Zealand music scene. Most notably, the past few years has seen the award-winning band advance in leaps and bounds from their humble beginnings. In 2014 they were recipients of funding from theaudience.co.nz, resulting in their music video Give In, which enjoyed more than six weeks on rotation on Edge TV. They then pursued more than 25 shows around the country in summer 2014/15, rivaled only by a tour of slightly more magnitude the following summer, which celebrated the release of their debut album Restless at the end of 2015.
Restless - the result of a Kickstarter campaign which raised more than $13 000 - was recorded in Surgery Studios by Lee Prebble, mastered by Mike Gibson of Munki Studios, and produced by Barnaby Weir of The Black Seeds and Fly My Pretties. Its release at the end of 2015 was celebrated with performances at Rhythm & Vines and Soundsplash, plus more than 25 shows around the country as support and headlining acts alike.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for TOI
Releases
Other Reviews By Peter-James Dries
AJA - Album Review: Kawai
13 Dec 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
Bilingual albums shouldn’t be special; they should be the norm. Or at least more common.
Read More...
Ra Charmian - Album Review: Waiata Wairua
08 Oct 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
Waiata Wairua is an album that wouldn’t feel out of place performed in a late night jazz hall in some alternate history where the successes of the Maori battalion lead to a proliferation of Te Reo worldwide. The sort of interest that saw your dad singing in French in the 60's, when Mireille Mathieu was knocking about.
Read More...
Ben Lloyd - Album Review: Leap of Faith
26 May 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
For over 30 years, this self-taught rocker from Mt Maunganui has been writing music. Now, for the first time since 2013, we finally get to hear his songs.
Read More...
Yann Le Dorré - Album Review: The Circus is Closed
19 Dec 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
“We are Sex Bob-Omb and we're here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!” - Scott Pilgrim vs.
Read More...
Sanoi - Album Review: Echoes Of Home
25 Nov 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Electronica offers no escapism for me. It’s more of what I already have.
Read More...
Throng - EP Review: Decoherence
20 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
You know that thing where the letter B has a personality, or words have textures and colours? That’s called synaesthesia.
Read More...
Fortress Europe - Album Review: Old World
10 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Have you ever been torn between listening to Mozart or Periphery? Does Epica have too much of that darn singing for your tastes?
Read More...
Yurt Party - Album Review: Yurt Party
07 Sep 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
It sure isn't summer, and this is really not the Balkans, but Yurt Party’s new self-titled album refutes that. Back with another one of them Balkan rocking beats, Yurt Party’s debut is jazzy, erratic, and full of zest and energetic grooves, with flavour notes of ska, dub, and bergamot.
Read More...
Most Viewed Artists
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- APT.
ROSÉ And Bruno Mars - DIE WITH A SMILE
Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Billie Eilish - TASTE
Sabrina Carpenter - I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
Gracie Abrams - ESPRESSO
Sabrina Carpenter - SAILOR SONG
Gigi Perez - LOSE CONTROL
Teddy Swims - A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
Shaboozey - GOOD LUCK, BABE!
Chappell Roan
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
