Still running to catch up trying to get a load of album reviews done before I finally decide on my end of year lists…
October has, unsurprisingly given its title, been out in the wild so to speak for a while now, just like many of the albums I’ve enjoyed and still not written about yet…
The debut Tulsaqueen album was an absolute delight, and as such I had great expectations for October, expectations which were smashed on first listen, as the album made its mark immediately and indelibly. It has a suave, laidback and unassuming style with arrangements that really get under the skin, there is a sparse and somewhat fragile beauty within the quiet assertiveness of the songs, with gently strummed guitar and bewitching vocals forming the core of the songs which captured my imagination and pull me into a mesmerising and mythical parallel Lynchian Twin Peaks dream universe.
The inspiration for the music feels like it comes from a variety of sources, the obvious starting point being the iconic Emmylou Harris, then there is everything from The Flying Burrito Brothers, through Cowboy Junkies to Lana Del Ray with an occasional nod to some local heroes, notably one of these, whose big hit titled the magnificent celebration of music performed by Scottish women that is the Since Yesterday documentary, is the wonderful Strawberry Switchblade, elsewhere even the sound of East Kilbride Reid brothers, Jesus and Mary Chain at their mellow best can be heard.
The album has a dream-like quality throughout, which adds to the hypnotic nature that takes me to places like the Red Room and the Bang Bang Bar. Opening with its title track October, with haunting country guitars and a lyric packed with a heartening love and yearning, this is just the start of a journey that fills you with a deep feeling of ease and a warm wrapping of arms around you, while at other times filling you with compassion and overcome with a feeling of pathos. All Over You is one of the tracks that could be a long lost Jesus and Mary Chain classic with elements of the melodic guitar lines. Sweet Valley is packed with mystery, its lyrics hinting at a deeper story but leaving the listener hanging, and is probably one of the most Twin Peaks songs on the record with its almost chilling guitar riffs.
Cruelty & Cold are a double whammy of songs which are both heartbreaking and glorious in their understated beauty and feeling of sadness while Me and Mine lifts you back to the soaring heights bursting with soaring angelic harmonies that seem fitting in the current celebration of woman in Scottish music as I recall the aforementioned Strawberry Switchblade.
The theme of female empowerment kicks off the second side of the record with what sounds like the most beautifully assertive threat I’ve ever heard in You’ll Never Touch Me Again. The beautiful tones of the dulcimer follow on Oh My Heart, an emotional sad/happy song in the vein of the classic Will the Circle Be Unbroken then from dulcimer to harmonica on Your Home, another glorious harmony laden song which has had me dig out my old River Detectives 10” singles.
It’s natural when you listen to music to align it with personal experiences and feel a sense of empathy, and Good Morning is a case in point, its message a simple one, when you feel at your very lowest, there is something to make you carry on, after the darkness of night a new day dawns every day. Shame has plenty of country guitar twangs throughout with sensitively played violin from Jane Sayer, with another strong message about living your life in your own terms – “What’s the last thing shame did for you?”
Penultimate song on the album Best Time of My Life moves away from Twin Peaks territory slightly, and instead could have featured in a John Hughes movie in the 80s, kicking off in the flavour of Jesus and Mary Chain/Joy Division again before morphing into more of an OMD/Roxy Music vibe with soaring synth lines.
The album closes with the soothing quiet majesty of Home, a perfect end to a pretty flawless record, a song which sums up the album, “oh, send me home”….”I’ve been untethered for so long”. This album is like coming home, being in that dream that you don’t want to end, engulfed in warmth and surrounded by a loving feeling.
Should there ever be a fourth season of the best TV series ever created, and with the sad passing of the unique and beguiling Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti, Lynch should look towards Glasgow and call on Tulsaqueen to create it’s atmospheric soundtrack.
There is nothing not to love about this album, and every record I write about ages it harder and harder to shortlist the best albums of 2024.
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