Thank You Terrible Two by: Thomas Mendelovits Thu:19-Jun-08 Label: Thrill Jockey Year: 2008 WB rating 72 out of 100

Thank You don’t make noise per se, but on Terrible Two they do get rowdy. While people’s tolerance of ‘noise’ will differ, suffice it to say that Thank You’s approach to music is more avant-jazz than MOR. And yet, while revelling in the ramshackle, the drums never stray too far off the beat to totally discount a groove, however tenuous, and there are oodles of hooks, albeit fading in and dropping out in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. Indeed, like the music of touring partner Battles, the five longish tracks of their second LP Terrible Two contain enough concise ideas to mark them as an ideas (or ‘art’) band. Unlike the worst elements of the more successful supergroup, however, Thank You seem to be wholly concerned with creating musical pleasure.

The record opens with perhaps the most ambitious track, which at the same time is the most instantly engaging and catchy on Terrible Two. ‘Empty Legs’ shows influences of sounds found on the edges of the art/math/drone canon, which (if they need to be pigeonholed) the band may be seen to inhabit. Samba whistles recall the hyper-Brasiliana of Philip Glass’ opening to Powaqqatsi ‘Serra Pelada’. In keeping with the pseudo-Afro-Latin tone, the drums are suitably mental; first cascading toms, then something more standard that still almost veers off the wall. However, as throughout the album, the drums stay somehow locked in with the melodic backbone of the song, often provided by organ as on ‘Empty Legs’. Like much of Terrible Two, ‘Empty Legs’ relies on the meting out of hooks and while it may all seem a bit crazy, these layers exist to merely add things to keep the organ/drum pattern interesting. As such, it is the album’s worst track in its attempt to seemingly make a good impression at the expense of the hypnotism of what is to follow.

If Thank You are concerned with the creation of a jumble of sounds and references, they are just as concerned with the hypnotic potential of the groove. The evocatively titled ‘Embryo Imbroglio’ moves from bebop-jazz drumming to a pulsating bass, which, if you let it, wraps you up completely in its skewed yet forceful insistence. Likewise, ‘Self with Yourself’ uses almost melismatic psychedelic/surf guitars (reminiscent of Animal Collective, an influence also found in the sporadic chanting throughout Terrible Two), which, set to the unchanging drums, will weave their way firmly into your viscera if you are in the right frame of mind. On both these tracks, it is the simultaneously static and dynamic nature of the riffs that hypnotise. On ‘Embryo’ the low pulse of the bass captures, while in ‘Self’ it is the melodic rhythm that has the potential to envelop your consciousness.

Choosing organ as one of the keystones of the Thank You sound is a wise move. It is no wonder that the organ and its droning phase is the instrument of choice for Western Christian ritual. Like the fiddle in Central Asian shamanic music or the tanpura in Indian classical music, the organ’s altered-state-inducing power comes from its creation of a soundwave that is at once constantly sustained but also ever harmonising, or phasing, with itself. At times, like on ‘Empty Legs’, the instrument provides atmospheric backing, but at other times Thank You fully use its transcendental potential. The organ on ‘Pregnant Friends’ starts meekly enough, but after three minutes the full effect is awesome.

Playing an equal role in Thank You’s sublime moments are the drums. Indeed, rhythm is the prime means for ritual communion in many African and North and East Asian traditions. What holds this album back from being truly great, however, are the steadfastly unruly patterns of Thank You’s drummer and the attendant muddle of the other instrumentation through the ‘song structures’. When they work best, the drums allow for a sweeping sensation accommodating the other sonic elements. The drums on ‘Terrible Two’, the most downbeat and perhaps best of all the songs, simply move from tom to tom with regular snare hits. But even with the most manic of drumming (as on ‘Self With Yourself’), when the groove is kept, Thank You really fly. A song like ‘Terrible Two’ is much easier to pull off than ‘Self With Yourself’, making tracks like ‘Self’ all the more rewarding when they work. While there are too few of these moments, Thank You can hypnotise like few others and indeed, turning off their music is akin to waking from a deep sleep. Whether or not they have this effect because or as a result of being so very unconventional is hard to tell. At its best, Terrible Two is transcendental stuff in an age of often-soulless retro stylings and unsatisfying nostalgia.