It never ceases to surprise me, the myriad ways in which a classic rock outfit can develop a style and method of expression which reaches out effortlessly into our lives, to help and spark our moods.
Even so, on first listen, although I could hear great talent here, it wasn’t getting to me. Until I reached what I suppose is Side Two, where things take a sudden left turn and … when the first side rolled again to play, the entire band made far, far more sense. And it’s been on repeat in the car to my great joy and the bane of the local cats and one rather irritated daddy possum.
I’ve never heard of Terminal Lovers; apparently they're from Ohio in the American Midwest and this is their third long-player since 2003. Apparently the band have been busy with other things. Not that it shows, they’re tighter than a flea’s pee-hole. The men here are all veterans of dirty bars and uncaring drinkers, while a chosen few go berko down the front. The ‘70s and ‘60s would seem to be prime motivation here, but not in the usual way.
The second side, then, at first reminded me a bit of Can and several other Krautrock bands - but the melodic, rhythmic ones, not the ones wielding pavement saws and metal buckets. Meaning Over is the one track which most reminds me of Can, that ability to go into a rhythm like some sort of witchy seduction; when Can toured the UK in the early '70s, quite often their gig would go for hours, and people were still dancing… sometimes a song would go for over an hour… this sort of mesmeric thing doesn’t happen often here in the "civilised West"; leave that for the Kuti clan, you’ll dance til you forget your name.
And that is also kind of what Terminal Lovers do here. The CD finishes, starts again, finishes, starts again, a superb aural cloak which will have you reaching for the cigarettes and wine one minute, the next you’re pulverising that damned spindly decorative table which you’ve never liked.
Don’t believe me? "Flight Out" rates five bottles and a tumbler of firewater.
terminallovers.bandcamp.com and www.terminallovers.com
