Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving - A Vexing Predicament

Hear The Track Here

OK, now I really have seen it all. Australia's (Perth seeing as you asked) Tangled Thoughts of Leaving describe their music as (takes deep breath) 'Industrial Cruise Ship Jazz' Ooookkkkkk, not sure what that is but lets move along... The band are a four piece consisting of Ron Pollard (Piano/Synth/Samples/Vocals), Luke Pollard (Bass/Samples), Andrew McDonald (Guitar) and Ben Stacy on drums. Not sure if the live videos on their myspace page are on a cruise ship or a boiler room but these are obviously four serious guys about what they are doing. So what exactly are they doing? You might well be asking yourself the same question if you went to see the videos while I've been talking about it.

You really have to listen to the audio itself to get what the band is actually doing. I'm sure that for people who already know the band, those live videos bring the band to life but maybe it would deter some people. That's the problem with serious music - and A Vexing Predicament is serious squared - it translates to yer average Joe as difficult. Unlistenable even. Still, Jazz was always thought of that way and make no mistake, this IS Jazz, but not like you've heard it before.

There's a very playful feel to the track, that dragged me straight in and even though its more obscure passages I never felt the band were in any danger of losing control of it. Listening back time and again to the MP3 version I am struck by how good - and how bizzarre - this would sound live. It shows that Tangled Thoughts of Leaving have lots of ideas about what makes a track work, and then spend their time trying to make it all fit in three minutes or so. As you know I've reviewed lots of musical idiosyncrasies, and this is one of the most rewarding yet. There's a lot more to this track than it seems, you'll need to give this a fair bit of time to grow on you.

Industrial Cruise Ship Jazz? Sounds good to me.