Release of the Week 17/6: The Teskey Brothers “Man of the Universe”
Photo by @nickmckk
The music of The Teskey Brothers is a soulful throwback to a lost sound. Their music would fit in a century ago, but it doesn’t feel outdated. Over a decade ago, brothers Sam, on guitar, and Josh Teskey, on vocals, teamed up with childhood friends and long-time jamming buddies Brendon Love, on bass, and Liam Gough, on drums. The band’s 2017 debut album Half Mile Harvest is something straight out of the 1960s Mississippi Delta, despite being self-recorded and produced at their home studio in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. Most recently the band have released “Man of the Universe”, an upbeat romp that channels this distinct sound and the second single of their sophomore album Run Home Slow, out Aug 2.
The song has a vintage charm straight out of an old Motown record. This is both in strong aural aesthetic that the band establish as well as the infectiously happy tone of the song. There are a number of factors that contribute to this old-school sound. The drums are constructed with a simple and slow beat that steers clear of using the heavy toms and kick, instead focusing on the snare and hi-hats. Most importantly, drummer Liam uses a tambourine to give the percussion a swinging jingle rhythm. The bass guitar is clean, meaning it is pushed forward in the mix. Listeners can clearly hear the bouncy bassline, combining with the steady drum beat. As a result, the rhythm and bass section is both energetic and relaxed. Melodically, the instrumentation is bright and playful. During the verses the guitar and keys are very simple. The clean guitar fills are slick, sliding in and out in the middle ground, while the piano emotively hammers the chords. There is also some trumpets and organ scatting. All of this combines to give the instrumentation a fun jazzy tone. Finally, there is the real star of the song, Josh Teskey. His soulful voice breaks with power but floats with passion. There is a dirt to the vinyl-like production, giving it a slight distortion and a clear character. His soulful performance rivals greats like Billy Ocean and Otis Redding as he proclaims, “I’m a man of the universe”.
On the lyrics, singer Josh states "the simple subject of the song is, stop trying to label everything, and say we're from here, or this place is better than that or these people are better than those. It's a real coming together of everything song, saying 'Hey, don't put a label on me!'"
Listen to “Man Of The Universe” or pre-order Run Home Slow here. http://smarturl.it/runhomeslow
