Tilly and the Wall is the first band to be signed onto Conor Oberst's label, Team Love. The team is so full of love that they are offering Tilly's entire debut album Wild Like Children here for free. Eat that, you money-grubbing major record label mongers! I bought the album anyway, because I like having the artwork and lyrics in a nice pamphlet.
Tilly and the Wall don't have a drummer, but that just leaves room for creativity. Instead, they recruited tap dancer Jamie Williams from the now defunct Park Avenue. Drums would probably ruin Tilly's fun and light sound; they sound like a charming high school show choir. Two-fifths of the band is from Park Avenue, and Tilly could be a continuation of that band, with new and different members, but with the same musical goal of having fun.
Tilly begins with hand claps and foot stomps in "Fell Down the Stairs." Kianna Alarid, Neely Jenkins, and Derek Pressnall intertwine their voices to create a small but balanced chorus. They sing lyrics that digress from the subject of catching a significant other to a story of two drunk kids. Nevertheless, it still sounds innocent combined with the sweet melody and the soft pattering of Williams's tap shoes. The words "I know in my heart I would never let you tumble to the ground" are sung a cappella to stress the point of their song, if you happen to get lost in the lyrics.
They get considerably darker in "Nights of the Living Dead" with their assorted curse words, distorted guitar, and pressing beat. With their bright nature, the song still sounds pretty light when they harmoniously sing "God put down your gun can't you see we're dead. God put down your hand we're not listening." Pressnall's voice isn't as pleasant as Alarid's or Jenkin's, but it's fitting how they chose him to have a solo in the darker songs like "Nights of the Living Dead" and "You and I Misbehaving." Instead of having Williams keep the beat in "You and I Misbehaving", they have a drum machine and also added a trumpet for kicks.
"Shake It Out" and "I Always Knew" have smooth melodies and piano notes that accompany the harmonizing voices nicely. "The Ice Storm, Big Gust, and You" was on their first 7-inch on Rue Royale Records; I like the 7-inch version instead of the album version, because I enjoy vinyl and their prelude with Pressnall singing too low for the girls which resulted in giggles was kind of, for the lack of a better term, cute. This time around, however, they also had friend Stephen Pedersen from Criteria guest on vocals.
Tilly and the Wall seems pretty hokey and gimmicky with their tap dancer, "doo doo's," "bop bop ba's," and their obsession with love. It works, at least for them; they pulled off an enjoyable pop album without being too hokey or gimmicky. Also, the variation of the songs on the album prevents the listener from skipping any tracks.
