Tri-State
Tri-State has been dealing its brand of guitar-based rock’n’roll since 2010. Started as a way for a handful of ex-indie rockers (Dunebuggy, Mohair, Spindale, The Conquistadors, Clean Living Pills) to blow off some midlife steam, over the past several years the band’s engaging take on the indie and alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s has garnered a growing following in northern New Jersey and beyond. Combining pop hooks, vocal harmonies, driving beats, and intricate, intertwined guitars with intelligent lyrics addressing everything from the aftermath of maritime disaster to Detroit hipsters to the travails of parenthood, Tri-State’s music has been compared to Pavement, Guided by Voices, Built to Spill, Television, the Feelies, Dinosaur Jr., Eleventh Dream Day, Wilco, and early REM.
Hey Pal is Tri-State's first LP, coming after two EPs and a number of singles. Tri-State’s eponymous debut EP was named a top New Jersey release of 2013 by Jersey Beat’s Jim Testa and Lazlo’s Blow Up Radio. Testa called it “a terrific record that neatly draws inspiration from Nineties alterna-rock without sounding dated or derivative...The guitars rumble and roar, the drumming always keeps things moving forward, and the vocals and lyrics bring a perspective you just don’t find in younger bands. Well worth checking out.” That EP led to the band’s signing with Mint 400 Records in 2014. After their signing, Tri-State released two songs for Mint 400 compilations, both of which received internet and college radio attention, and a 2015 single (“New Minuits”/Titanic Bros.”).
In 2016, Tri-State released We Did What We Could Do, a five-song EP engineered and mixed by Tom Lucas at Laughing Boy Studios in South Orange, NJ. The EP captured the power of Tri-State’s live shows while adding new sonic layers -- from toy piano to soprano sax to tape loops -- while remaining true to band’s history of writing catchy and lyrically intelligent songs that explore themes of loss, resignation and the struggle for satisfaction in face of life’s inevitable limitations and disappointments.
Soon after that record's release, Tri-State began recording Hey Pal, again with Lucas at Laughing Boy, and now with new bassist and back-up vocalist Scott Stemmermann in tow. The LP's nine songs include a diversity of textures: Silver Sea's acoustic shimmer; the barely in-control apocalyptic boogie of "The World Without Us"; and the waltzy-pop/math rock combo of "Aerial Bender, for instance. But overall the record is notable for its more direct rock sound. The LP's first single, "Void Set" is a piece of Superchunk'y pop/punk; "First Responder" and "Toasts and Boasts" pack a fast-paced and catchy punch; "Brady is Late" is a heavy slab of 1970s butt-rock; and "Beard" is a stripped down toe-tapper that calls Spoon to mind. Lyrically, the record also extends on Tri-State's previous material: songs still focus on personal themes of the ups and downs of family, friendship, and "post-youth" ("Silver Sea," "Beard," and "Aerial Bender, for instance) but many of the songs on Hey Pal strike a more aggressive and political stance, taking on climate change ("The World Without Us") and the depredations of Trump and his co-conspirators: the album kicks off with the line "No More Fox on the Box!" ("Toasts and Boasts"); "Where'd You Learn to Lie Like That?" asks "Void Set." In some ways a return to Tri-State's earlier and more direct sound, Hey Pal also heads in new musical and lyrical directions, making it Tri-State's richest release yet.
RIYL: Pavement, Guided by Voices, Dinosaur Jr., REM
TRY: #3, 1, 2
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