The Fall Of Troy – OK (2016)

We should have known that The Fall Of Troy were up to something. We should have taken the hint when they released two new tracks, ‘401K’ and ‘Inside Out’, from their own website; independently of any online streaming services like Soundcloud or Bandcamp; independently of the various blogs or webzines who would have welcomed an exclusive stream with arms wide open. The Fall Of Troy clearly had deeper intentions.

A couple of weeks following the premier of these singles, and the band have surprised us yet again by making their latest album, OK, available to fans on a ‘pay what you what’ basis from their home-base. The whole damn thing. It’s a move that’s caught fans completely off-guard and has probably caused the hasitleaked website to self-implode due to a circular argument error.

Sure, we’ve seen these sorts of ‘gift-based’ album releases in the past, and whether you consider it a counter-intuitive promotional tool in the style of Radiohead’s In Rainbows, or simply reckless abandon a la hip-hop mavericks
Death Grips, is entirely up to you. But TFOT’s intentions should seem clear to anyone who has read the preface prior to claiming their download: “This album represents hope; that things can be different, that the past doesn’t have to always weigh on the present. We give this album to you now for free, because we know that you deserve it. Rather than try to squeeze every penny from people who have given us opportunities beyond our wildest dreams, we wanted to give you a gift, for all the gifts you’ve given us over the years.”

The Fall Of Troy are reconnecting with the fans that have supported them. They bypassed the press, the journos, the critics, the pundits, and went straight for the lifeblood of their existence. And they’re clearly not expecting anything back.

So, in a way, OK doesn’t really involve us as press, and for this reason we’re not going to talk about the album at all. We’re not going to muster up some prose on whether the past Fall Of Troy can be weighed against the new Fall Of Troy. We’re just going to tip our hat to a band that, after ten years of garnering devoted fans across the globe and forging a path for themselves, decided to do away with the commercial slog and instead bestow their listeners with a free album and a thank you. TFOT, you’re OK.

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