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.

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.”

Independent Clauses noted the EP’s “complex lyrical turns and less obvious arrangement,” “unhurried, ‘let’s give this some space’ method,” and“mature songwriting that appreciates with multiple listens.”

Cool Dad Music called the EP “uplifting” and celebrated its “indie / power pop feel,” “interesting rhythms, and “guitars, alternating between jangly leads and crunchy chords.”

That EP led to the band’s signing with Mint 400 Records in 2014. Since then, Tri-State has released two songs for Mint 400 compilations, both of which received internet and college radio attention, and a 2015 single (New Minuits/Titanic Bros.). Independent Clauses wrote of New Minuits: “this low-slung rock tune escaped from some preternaturally chill realm: it’s smart, cool, moody, lyrically clever and vocally impressive without breaking a sweat.” 

In late 2015, Tri-State began recording new material at Tom Lucas’s Laughing Boy Studios in West Orange, NJ. The result is We Did What We Could Do, a five-song EP engineered and mixed by Lucas and mastered by Alex Saltz at APS Mastering that captures the power of Tri-State’s live shows while adding new sonic layers. These songs reward the listener with bits of everything 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. From Summer Nun’s jangly power pop, broken up by an almost middle-Eastern-esque bridge, to a Automatic Man’s sinewy, fast-paced atmospherics, We Did What We Could Do brings Tri-State’s indie rock to a new level in a way that both long-time fans and new listeners will appreciate. 

RIYL: Pavement, Guided by Voices, Dinosaur Jr., REM
TRY: #1, 2, 5

Download full album here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/

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https://tristatetheband.bandcamp.com/
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