I wrote about Corgi Magnum yesterday and their interest in using unusual instruments to vary the sound, and the theme is continued today with They Owe Us, courtesy of a Tuba in their track ‘Thrilling Curves’.
Of course there’s nothing too unusual about a Tuba, but I always feel it’s a ‘special’ instrument that in orchestral works is wheeled out when the composer really wants to make a big impression, and not just with ‘sustained noise’ either, as shown by the lovely solo in Mahlers 6th symphony. I’m pretty sure that Shostakovich wrote some good parts for the instrument too.
But enough, because I’ll end up wittering on about all kinds of stuff again, and ‘Thrilling Curves’, the new tune from They Owe Us is just really great fun. It’s the 2nd track from a new album due in August this year, and a follow up to their debut ‘Broken English and Sad Serenades’ which they released last year.
They spent a good period touring and travelling prior to the pandemic, to both Europe and US, and the track was inspired by an experience whilst travelling to a festival north of New York, but driving as if still on the Autobahn’s in Germany. Stopped by the police for speeding, the experience inspired the song, a mixture of thrills, dreams and romance. The band explain more:
“I’ve always had a dream to cut a song with energetic drums and tuba (played by Viktor /Franska Trion) There is something about those polarities that appeals to me. I invited Timo Räisänen to help out with a few melody issues and my old school friends sang the 60’s sounding back up vocals. It all happened so fast, everything from the cops to the tuba.”
It opens quietly enough, before the main musical theme is introduced, subtly at first and then exploding to life in the chorus with brass and electronica combining to blast out the theme. There’s almost a cinematic / film vibe to it, although I’m not quite sure if the context it would be used. Highly entertaining anyway, and showing once again that it really is all about the tunes.