You get Tubey Frank, a Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter/band!
Euphoraphobia, Tubey Frank’s latest EP, is set to be released on August 21, 2019 at their show at Ortlieb’s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The EP will be distributed through Logic Gate Records, a new music recording, production, and distribution company based out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Produced by Adam Stehr, “My, My Mind” starts off the EP with a simple plucking bass part and snappy percussion lines, the gaps between them emphasized by a peep of guitar here and there. Relaxed vocals join, trickling from high to low to create a wonderful bridging effect between all the elements. Every part of the track is important and cleanly recorded, but the mellowness brings the vocals into the forefront and highlights the lyrics: “I’m filled with timidity/ awkwardness is endearing / But it’s a package deal with doubt / So many times, you can change your mind / When I first was alive / The world made up my mind….” The message that it’s okay to be figuring out who you are (as many times as necessary!) will appeal to a large range of diverse audiences. The accompanying instrumentals of “My, My Mind” shift between moods fluidly in a way that keeps the track dynamic, especially as its elements begin to wonkily disintegrate towards the end, bringing us into a carnival-like dream world to finish the track.
The video, which was directed by Bob Sweeney and produced by Alex Leonhart, is a great touch, and adds even more energy to the track!
Listening to “Germantown” is like drifting off into a relaxing, acoustic dream. With gentle nudges of percussion that sound like thunder rolling in the distance, Tubey Frank takes us into another world as the track teases at tension. In dramatic, slow-building waves, each breath of an instrumental is just enough to deepen its emotion. As the track continues and we start to grow accustomed to its aesthetic, it grows deeper, leaving listeners with a dark, dissonant outro. The light touch of “Germantown” is something special in the typically overstimulated society we live in, and its restraint is what allows its every note to have effect. For this reason, it is one of my favorites of the EP.
Tubey Frank packed a lot into the track’s 5:12 running time, and despite my typical personal music preferences, I couldn’t help being captivated by every shifting second of “While the World Screams By.”
“Georgey’s a Party” is the final song of Euphoraphobia. It takes the record back to the musical themes introduced in the first few songs with a gentle, acoustic touch and softly crooning vocals. The phrasing of the amusing lyrics mimics the trickling guitar lines: “Parties / If you’ve ever seen me at parties / You’ll notice I don’t go to parties anymore / ‘Cause I don’t go to parties anymore / Missing, people say I’ve been missing / For all the years this month has been / Time ain’t what it used to be.” Suddenly, a wave of sound hits as the lyrics grows increasingly comical: “Maybe I’m in the john / Maybe I fell in / Maybe I found God / And I don’t believe in those sins.” The wry self-awareness of “Georgey’s a Party” makes it a surprising ode to not only self-deprecation, but the situations that come with relationships, the future, and of course, love.
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***Like the majority of my reviews, a submission fee was charged for this post.***
