Tokyo Police Club Continue Dissonance and Classic Song Development Via ‘TPC’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

★★★★★★★★★★

Tokyo Police Club’s newest album TCP continues the band’s ability to write guitar-based songs with great hooks. Over the course of their career, they’ve had the same continuous lineup. It’s allowed them to stay very much so true to their original motivations. Hailing from Newmarket in Ontario, Canada, TCP is their fourth studio album release in ten years. They’ve also released a few EP’s including “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Radness Parts 1 &2”, and “Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days” which was a project where they covered 10 songs from 10 different decades over the course of 10 days. It contains a few interesting lyrical nuggets and moves from a faster pace into slower moving, more melodic songs and their ability to continue their sound has made them one of the more sustainable indie bands.

The opening track, “New Blues”, is one of the four possible singles from the album and is a great example of their excellent guitar playing by Josh Hook. Throughout the album, he has many highlights including his well-timed and structured riffs and solos. “Pigs” and “Ready to Win” show the bands range of influence. The powerful riff and speed of “Pigs” sets it apart from the other tracks. On “Ready to Win”, the extended acoustic intro sets up the feeling and message behind the lyrics. The other singles, “DLTFWYH”, “Simple Dude”, and “Hercules” have all the aspects of the band’s ability on display. The song “One of These Days” is one of their best lyrical outputs yet. The line, “I don’t want to go down unless it’s down in history”, sets the tone for the song.

TCP is a great addition to their overall catalog. It has every aspect of their other works and still shows a clear advancement in skill and songwriting. The rhythm section led by Greg Alsop on drums is always complimentary to the overall feel of the track. Keyboardist Graham Wright creates multiple standout moments as well as being true by creating an atmosphere throughout the album. Their use of dissonance and classic song development is evident as well as the great guitar playing and vocal delivery by David Monks. According to their website, they are touring in the fall and spring in support of the album.