Whether it’s his cartoonish vocals or bizarre one-liners, King Tuff’s innate goofiness has always seemed inseparable from his music. It’s a welcome surprise, then, that his kooky ways have all but vanished on his fifth full-length, making it his most mature outing yet.
On ‘The Other’, Tuff (real name Kyle Thomas) contemplates the big stuff. Living, dying, the Earth, the universe, it’s all here, and it’s all addressed with a wonderfully refreshing nonchalance that few other artists display when tackling such lofty themes. He even criticises our present-day obsession with screens and social media on the mellow Circuits in the Sand: “Our senses have been numbed, we can’t enjoy the taste / Cause everyone’s been digitised, but no one will be saved.”
The title track casts a long shadow. Opening the album, it finds Tuff singing “there’s no reason to be alive at all” and “it won’t be long before I’m lying in some hole” above circular organ chords that wouldn’t sound out of place at a funeral.
It’s as beautiful as it is unexpected and, although the rest of the record resumes his usual upbeat psychedelic sensibilities (bar Thru the Cracks, which sees him mourn the loss of a friend), the shockwaves from this song reverberate right to the end.
‘The Other’ also represents a musical evolution, not just a thematic one. Overdriven powerchords and visceral guitar solos - very much staples of Tuff’s back catalogue - have been largely jettisoned, replaced with lushly-strummed open chords and a panoply of digital effects and electronics.
Epic closer No Man’s Land is a shining example of this keenness to experiment with his new toys; its folksy melodies and spacey synths evoking something of a Bob Dylan x Flaming Lips crossover (stranger things have happened).
Some hangovers from Tuff’s previous work still remain, though, such as the occasional bum note or a slight (definitely unintentional) tempo change. But these foibles do little to detract from the overall package, and in some ways they give the record a more hand-crafted, organic feel.
Given that King Tuff has been absent from our screens since he released ‘Black Moon Spell’ way back in 2014, it’s perhaps unsurprising that his sound has matured so much. Yet, few artists are able to pull off a progressive step like ‘The Other’ and make it look easy. King Tuff has finally come into his own.
King Tuff Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon August 13 2018 - MANCHESTER Night People
Tue August 14 2018 - GLASGOW Broadcast
Thu August 16 2018 - LONDON Moth Club
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