Rock music has always been a microcosm of its influences. The way blues snuck its way into the genre’s most incredible songwriters, the punk attitude being determined by societal standards of what not to do, or the loose melodies of relaxed psych-rock coming from colorful hallucinations, the genre has found its voice through tireless toiling and weeding out the unnecessary. The results have birthed ground-breaking, mind-melting music for generations, but what does the future of rock music hold? Post-punk has recently taken over as the new hotbed for innovation in rock music. Yet, two years ago, a band emerged, steeped in tradition yet carefully assuring they are more than an amalgamation of the genre’s past. The Tubs blasted into rock music with a stellar 2023 debut, positioning themselves as revivalist with a fearlessness to break the mold.
A stellar debut is a good start, but a sophomore album makes or breaks a band as promising as The Tubs. The four-piece looks to solidify their spot in the modern rock lexicon with Cotton Crown, their long-awaited sophomore effort. The nine-song outing sees the young band come into their own, uitlizing their wide-ranging influences to piece together a sound they can call their own. This newfound sound, though, is still not enough to put The Tubs in a box. The band sees a new album as a blank slate, an entire new beginning, and if Cotton Crown is what we will come to expect from The Tubs, we all should start attempting to keep up sooner rather than later.
On a surface level, Cotton Crown can come off as disjointed. The way The Tubs transition from gothic anthems to breezy tales of heartbreak can be jarring, but even at its most unpredictable, these songs have a captivating atmosphere. While the instrumentation on the album rarely follows any linear sonic path, the vulnerability in the songwriting begins to piece together the puzzle of Cotton Crown. The stories on these songs are fascinatingly honest and almost autobiographical in how vocalist/songwriter Owen ‘O’ Williams pens these palpable pieces of music. There is a bluntness to his writing that is oddly welcoming on these songs despite the dark corners the writer explores, almost as if he is letting anyone into his emotional state for the first time. The writing is carelessly poignant in the best sense of the phrase. It would take some bands years to let listeners into their world on this deep level, but The Tubs are mature, thoughtful songwriters who would seemingly rather not record than release anything that felt inauthentic.
It is that authenticity that ties the loose musical knots of Cotton Crown together. With every listen, a new layer is unlocked, allowing the band’s vision to be slowly pieced together and fully realized. On “Illusion,” Williams croons, “Sometimes all I see is a space when I look into the mirror.” This lyric details the bleakness of the album’s writing but also doubles as a metaphor for The Tubs. This band is pure Rock ‘N Roll, denouncing standards and norms to free up space for their familiar yet lofty visions of the genre. Just listen to how guitarist George Nicholls’s melodies transition from the glimmering pop of “Narcissist” to the dense punk fury of “Fair Enough.” You don’t get that expansive yet consistently impressive without breaking a few rules.
The Tubs struck a delicate balance on Cotton Crown, one that anyone who lends an ear to the band won’t soon forget. These nine songs could be dismissed as imaginative takes on rock tropes by a young band still trying to find its voice. That would be the easy way out, but if The Tubs taught us anything on their sophomore effort, ease is for the weak lovers of the mundane. Despite containing infectious anthems like The Cure-inspired “One More Day” and pop-punk powerhouse “Chain Reaction,” Cotton Crown is a complex yet highly rewarding listen.
