It's not a stretch to see the Omaha, Neb. music scene in terms of a high school. Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst is its mopey, yet overachieving class president, Tim Kasher (Cursive, The Good Life) is the equally-busy but less-recognized vice president. Todd Baechle of The Faint sticks around after the last bell to play with the aging synthesizer in the band room. Jenny Lewis and her band mates in Rilo Kiley are the cool kids who graduated, yet are sorely missed and welcomed back with open arms every homecoming.
And Tilly and the Wall? They'd be the rejects from the cheerleading squad who the choir teacher persuaded to try out for the spring musical.
Tilly and the Wall created a musical niche all their own by combining unison vocals, hand claps, youthful naiveté, distorted acoustic guitar and percussive tap-dancing on 2004's unexpectedly good "Wild Like Children." It's a formula that really shouldn't work — indie pop with percussive tap-dancing: Are you serious?
But it's precisely that lack of seriousness that made said formula work on "Wild Like Children" and continue to work on their latest release, "Bottoms of Barrels." It ain't broke, and Tilly and the Wall sure as hell ain't fixing it.
"Bottoms of Barrels" is an effective sequel to "Wild Like Children," continuing and building on the themes — sonic and lyrical — of its predecessor. "Nights of the Living Dead," the first album's party-at-the-end-of-the-world manifesto, passes its freak flag on to "Bad Education" and "Sing Songs Along," while the stormy romanticism of "Let It Rain" finds a companion in "Love Song."
A few new musical styles are flirted with on "Bottoms of Barrels" as well. The flamenco flair of "Bad Education" is clearly Tilly's acknowledgment that its clapping and stomping came to Omaha via España.
The electronic beats that sporadically poked their heads out on "Wild Like Children" take full-hold on "The Freest Man." While it's nice to hear the band giving Jamie Williams a break from hoofing it, the song's titular hero and guitar effects appear to have escaped from the synth pop prison of Bright Eyes' "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn."
Oberst's output and influence remains a touchstone for Tilly; both of the band's albums have been released by his label, Team Love, and his is the third name thanked in the liner notes. The album-closing "Coughing Colors" comes off as Bright Eyes-lite.
Tilly also shares its friend/label boss's penchant for long-windedness. Words are an endlessly renewable resource on "Bottoms of Barrels," and the lyric sheet looks as gray as the front page of The Wall Street Journal. But like the tap-dancing, the band manages to sell its verbosity, wrapping it in shout-along melodies.
The youthful exuberance that possesses Tilly and the Wall certainly can't last forever, a fact their new album's title cheekily refers to. Still, the band has stretched that spirit over two releases without appearing entirely obnoxious.
The members of the band have at least a few more years of running wild through the streets ahead of them, waking up mothers and starting commotions.
