Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years you might remember coming across a handful of posts featuring the Bay Area-basd punk rock trio Terry Malts. Comprised of Corey Cunningham (guitar vocals), Phil Benson (bass, vocals) and Nathan Sweatt (drums), the members of the trio have developed a reputation for doing things in prototypical fashion a the trio have self-produced and self-recorded their first two full-length albums. And after a period of rather busy touring after the release of their critically applauded Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere, Cunningham and Benson spent the following year writing, re-writing and revising the material that would eventually comprise the trio’s third full-length effort, Last At The Party.
During the writing and recording sessions of Party, Cunningham and Benson had decided that for their third album, that they wanted to broaden the band’s sound by creating a kaleidoscopic pop album that had a mixture of moods, with each song turning to a different sound inspired by the albums that influenced and inspired the band over the years. And as a result, the album’s material manages to retain the something of the gritty and grimy punk rock that first caught the attention of the blogosphere, while equally drawing from jangling and shimmering indie pop and power pop. Once they were finished writing and felt they were ready to record, the members of the band then enlisted Monte Vallier, best known for his work with The Soft Moon and Weekend Swell to co-produce the band’s first album actually recorded in a professional studio.
Over the past couple of months I’ve written about Party‘s first two singles “Seen Everything,” and “Used To Be,” which both revealed a professional studio polish while retaining the band’s uncanny penchant for crafting infectious and catchy hooks while thematically the album’s first two singles possess a bittersweet and wistful nostalgia over the thing that have and will continue to change but a burgeoning Zen-like acceptance of the impermanence of all things. But they do so with a radio-friendly, power pop-inspired sound. The album’s third and latest single “Gentle Eyes” continues in a similar vein and while sounding as though it were drawing from classic power pop, the song also sounds as though it draws from early New Wave — in particular, early New Order. However, lyrically the song deals more directly with the end of a romantic relationship, in which the song’s narrator admits his role in the breakup and how his former lover’s ghost lingers everywhere for him.
The recently released video employs a very simple concept. Shot in a slightly purplish, black and white tint, the video features the band perfuming the song in a darkened studio, which emphasizes the loneliness and ache at the heart of the song.
The trio is finishing up a lengthy Stateside tour. Check out the remaining tour dates below.
Tour Dates
Nov 18 – Seattle, WA – Vera Project
Nov 19 – Portland, OR – Bunk Bar
