It’s been two years since we were first introduced to a-tota-so, the welded product of East Midlands bands Alright the Captain and Cheap Jazz. The first offering from the band, ‘Clever Liver’, premiered right on Fecking Bahamas, in fact. Now, its album time…
Working off the back of a more-than-successful Indiegogo campaign, the band persevered through mix/master slog, the vinyl press and the *pats own hairless back* promotional work. Finally, wouldn’t ya know it, the boys are about to release their self-titled debut. The album is the product of many highs and lows that band faced last year: a van full of stolen gear, personal loss, playing major festivals, a European tour. For guitarist Marty, the story goes even further:
“It’s a very personal album for me, when Alright The Captain went on hiatus I felt a bit lost as we’d been doing that intensely for 10 years and that was my main focus for so long. Jamie and I knew we wanted to carry on making music while Todd had some well earned rest so we started a-tota-so pretty quickly. After maybe our second or third gig we were robbed of all our gear which we then had to replace bit by bit just so we could carry on writing, then not long after Arctangent I lost my Dad unexpectedly and spent a lot of time back in Ireland before we actually started recording the album.
The track “Acer” in particular I had started writing as a sort of lullaby for my Godson Cillian but ended up finishing writing it while my Dad was in hospital, his passing affected me deeply and I felt like I needed to do something as a little gesture for him and to put something out into the world in his memory. The photograph we ended up using for the album cover is actually one my Dad took back at our house in Ireland and the release date is his one year anniversary. Writing this album was definitely a coping mechanism for me and got me through some really tough times”
It’s an album that emerges as both raucous and poignant. The sombre tone underpinning parts of this album are met with vivacious highs elsewhere. a-tota-so’s first offering is solid, low-to-the-ground instrumental math rock, and the band have stories to tell…
Go nab up a copy of a-tota-so’s new album via Lonely Voyage, Buttonpusher and Circuit Sweet. Be sure to follow the band on their Facebook page as well. And have a good weekend, or else.