The Tirith Drop a New Single As They get Ready for a Full Album Release
- BuzzSlayers
- 8 minutes ago
- 7 min read
New single release from The Tirith delivers a combination of what I would consider to be classic rock, progressive, pop rock, and more, all rolled into one song that also manages to pull together such amazing guitar tone and approach that you can't really turn away from it.
"Save The Oak" has these amazing layers in terms of the guitar work. You can hear crisp, clean guitars underneath electrified, more distorted guitars, and the combination of the two seems to work together like magic.
You can tell that there was a lot of attention paid to those elements. The tones of the instruments, the layering of the production, and how the aesthetic would feel in the end.
This song definitely doesn't keep you waiting around for vocals. They kick in almost right at the start, after the first round of progressions, and you start to get that sort of bright feel but also the semi-vintage tonality of classic rock infused throughout it all.
The arrangement is also really well done. And everything has a flavorful and sort of tasteful approach to it.
The vocals have a robustness to them, are very melodically driving, but have a live performance kind of energy.
Throughout the song, there are different parts where the vocals have certain effects on them, which sort of gives the song a little more depth and hints of vastness in its underbelly, but none of it is overdone.
Everything about this track is very well balanced in terms of its dynamics and textures.
One of my favorite aspects about this entire track is the drumming. The drummer is perfect. He's pulling off all kinds of great fills that give the song a bit of liveliness, and you can hear a lot of the rest of the band feeding off of that element throughout the song.
So awesome rolls and deep-pocketed grooves let the song breathe and help separate those progressions damn near perfectly.
Amongst all the color and pop-coated textures, there is a bit of edginess. It's not over the top; it's not alternative rock, per se. It does have a bit of a punch, though, and a lot of that comes from the performance of the guitars as well.
The bass guitar has a massive low end but also pushes the song along in a forward-moving fashion, giving it a little extra color, and the whole thing is enthusiastic with this amazing energy attached to it.
The energy is one of the biggest things you end up holding on to throughout this single.
There's an awesome bridge section towards the middle of the track that has an ascending guitar part to it, and it's a great way to break back into the verse progressions, but it also gives the song an extra gusto and makes it even more lovable.
As the song unfolds, you begin to uncover things like synthesizers and keys coming through in different sections of the song.
Those change here and there, but for the most part they feel almost orchestrated. Almost like they're meant to be string sections.
This also makes me think of loads of classic rock I grew up with, so I felt a little bit nostalgic when I listened to this track because you can hear those old-school influences shining through all over the place.
By the time you get to that final chorus, everything is pretty much full swing. You have all the layers of textures coming at you between the keys, guitars, bass guitar, and those oysters vocals delivering a hook that sticks with you and bounces around in your brain for long after the song has ended.
This is definitely a track for classic rock lovers. Now, there are different kinds of classic rock, but what I'm talking about is less Beatles classic rock, and much more Rush classic rock.
There are some great surprises around the corners of this track, and it's well worth checking out, especially if you're into slightly Progressive and really well-performed rock music in general.
This track is part of an upcoming full-length LP set to release this July.
If the album holds more tracks like this one, I absolutely can't wait for it.
In the meantime, this single will certainly keep me at bay.
Upon listening to the track and finding out about the upcoming album, I definitely wanted to have a sit-down with the band to find out more about both, so that's exactly what I did.
Check out our interview with The Tirith below.
Remember where you heard it first.
Thanks so much for taking the time! Let's jump right into "Save The Oak"!
Where did this track come from and what was it about?
Save The Oak is a song from the earlier period of Tirith activity in the 70s now updated. It's a rock song with ecological and anti-hunting overtones. A shortened version of this song is released as a radio edit ahead of the release of the album.
I am hearing a few different styles on this release. Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Well, we are a Prog/Rock band so lets get that out there to begin with, but we are not prog in the way that most people expect a current prog band to be. We don't play what I would call standard prog ie we don't play in silly time signatures just for the sake of it and we are not influenced by Genesis as most seem to be. Our influences stretch too wide for that. It is song based, properly constructed songs with instrumental sections and in many styles. We can be heavy and riff based with soaring guitar solos, but also slower more reflective tunes, folk influenced in places, occasionally symphonic, a few simply weird ones, jazz sections, and even a prog waltz. Not all of our music necessarily falls within the prog genre, it's wider than that.
Our influences are very wide. In the early days we were inspired by artists such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Caravan, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, The Doors, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Deep Purple, ELP, Cream, Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever and Fairport Convention amongst many others. Inbetween we have taken note of Joy Division, Japan, Magazine, Gang of Four, David Bowie, Kate Bush, U2, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Radiohead and The Eagles. More recently we have been inspired by Metallica, Dream Theater, Korn, Disturbed, Rush (last 3 albums), Opeth, Big Big Train, Katatonia, Mastodon, Tool, Ghost, Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson, The Cure and Spocks Beard.
Are you performing live right now?
We have just played 2 album launch shows in Sheffield and Nottingham UK. We like to play festivals both small and large which guarantees a large crowd, we have played many in the past including The Cambridge Rock Festival, the Nene Valley Rock Festival (NVRF), Sonic Rock Solstice and HRH Prog. Our next 3 gigs are all small festivals, Steel City Prog at Network Sheffield in Sept, our own festival Prog Rhino 3 at Greystones Sheffield in Oct, and Spriggan Fest in Reading in January 27.
How did this all start for you as a band?
The band goes back a long way. It was originally formed in Loughborough as Minas Tirith in the 70s when we were just kids. Tim, Dick and Paul were part of that. But Tim and Dick go back even further, playing together when we were both pupils at Loughborough Grammar School. The early phase finished quite soon and there followed a hiatus of over 30 years, Tim and Dick stayed in touch and occasionally created music together throughout that period. Eventually the band came back together as "The Tirith" in 2010 at the suggestion of Paul Williams. Activity has been continuous since 2010, the band playing many gigs and festivals and releasing 3 studio albums , Quetzalcoatl will be the 4th
Did you work with a producer on this track, or was this all you?
We did work with a producer but fortunately he is a member of the band. The superb production on Quetzalcoatl is singularly down to Tim Cox. Tim has a long history of both songwriting and production in the music industry and has been associated with dance production in the past. He co-wrote and produced the international dance hit Everybody' Free (to feel good) by Rozalla. Another example of his work is Fire in My Heart by Escape From New York which has been streamed over 22 million times on Spotify in the last 3 months. We are lucky to have him, fortunately he likes writing rock songs and playing guitar with us.
What's next for you? Working on more new releases?
We are always songwriting and working on ideas and we have a huge catalogue of songs that sometimes need further work to adapt for the band and modern times. But concentrating at the moment on the release and promotion of Quetzalcoatl , the culmination of 2 years of hard work. We may release a 2nd live album next year,
The Tirith Live - Space Songs.
What kind of advice would you give to other up and coming bands or artists trying to get heard?
Without a major record label, and unlikely to be taken on by one in today's market, it's a nightmare. So much noise, so many artists posting on Spotify you can get lost in the background. Our answer, be original and inspirational and promote as much as the budget allows in the press, on radio and on Spotify.
What would you say people can expect to hear on this record?
People should expect a well produced album in a wide variety of styles. We can be heavy and riff based with soaring guitar solos, but also slower more reflective tunes, folk influenced in places, occasionally symphonic, a few simply weird ones, jazz sections, and even a prog waltz. Not all of our music necessarily falls within the prog genre, it's wider than that.
So dive in !
Before we go, what would you want to express to fans of the music?
We thank people for liking our music, and we hope you enjoy the album. We would encourage people to download or buy the CD on our Bandcamp site https://thetirith.bandcamp.com which is the only way the band receives any significant income from our music.
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