Long long ago, when ale was quaffed and the idea of a "good spit-roast" didn't bring arch looks and barely-suppressed sniggers, wandering minstrels strolled the land, telling of great deeds, brave feats and the origins of life. Fast-forward a few hundred years or so and the acoustic guitar has been the preferred instrument for every spotty seventeen year old looking to tell his dearest "just how he feels". Well, this is none of those things. Or rather, it's both, but like you've never seen them.
Musically, Tristram the group (actually a four-piece led by Tristram Bawtree) has pitched its camp squarely in indie-folk territory, displaying, particularly on "Me And James Dean", a similar love for gentle melodies and the ukulele to better-known American artists Beirut and "Kids Aflame"-era ARMS. What make Tristram stand out, however, are the lyrics. It's unusual to see the word "zombie" appear in a song not produced by a band with "death", "kill" or "blood" in its name, but the group successfully buck the trend and pull out a decidedly delicate and rather hand-rending tale of saving a lover from hordes of the undead. "I'd only waste my life/so better I use it well/to stop the monsters/from taking my loved one" may sound ridiculous on paper, and to a certain extent that stands true for Bawtree's delivery, but he infuses it with enough pathos for the listener to almost forget the utter silliness of the track. Think about it. Read behind the initially silly premise: is it really any different in content to any number of weepy, self-affirming songs about a boyfriend's very real concern for his loved one?
In fact, despite the seemingly farcical subject matter, underneath the surface real-life concerns and issues can be found. Powerlessness, frustration, apathy, love and loneliness are all pretty much universal human concepts, even if their highly original method of presentation makes you splutter at first listen. Indeed, the beauty of this EP is really in the group's mixture of pathos and bathos. Starting with a generally ludicrous premise, the band invariably maintains your attention far longer than they should do for what, in the end, could simply have amounted to "a funny song or two".
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"Someone Told Me A Poem" sees Tristram set off down the troubadour road, only to reveal with his very first line that although "Someone told me a poem last night/I was too lazy to write it down." Within seconds the very idea of a wandering minstrel has been turned upside down. Elsewhere, the teary-eyed mandolin-fuelled ballad to a stolen bicycle keeps the ridiculous levels topped up, particularly with lines such as "and in memory of my bike/I bought another/some property we keep/and some we're forced to surrender". "Me And James Dean" sees Tristram (the man), much like a friendless ten-year old, imagine a mythical street war with a love rival, in which the rebel without a cause has our hero's back. The song takes a further turn for the ludicrous as Chuck D, Public Enemy and "Easy mother-fucking E" are name-checked in a run through socially conscious black American rap. All a bit odd, really.
In an EP of four songs, the novelty value ("folk with silly lyrics") successfully stretches into the last minute. Whilst it's not quite Flight of the Conchords-style goofiness, the question does remain as to what the group could and would do with a full-length album. How the group manages the balance between variety and loyalty to their particular brand of music will be key, but for the moment it would appear that Oh! Inverted World - the club night which has released the "Someone Told Me A Poem EP" as its first foray into publishing music, rather than just publicising it - was fully justified in launching into the precarious, dog-eat-dog world of record labels.
Tristram on MySpace
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