Album Profile: Tall Days - battling the elements

Tall Days, a Black-Keys-style duo from Verona NJ, want you to shake your hips. On second thought, they may want you to bang your head. Both are noble goals, considering most of what you hear on top 40 radio wants you, instead, to fist-pump along to the robo-beat. Sneering in the face of that trend, the Tall Days new album, “Battling the Elements,” does it’s damnedest to capture the primitive essence of rock music, be it one filthy riff at a time. It succeeds in part, but one can’t fight the feeling that their influences simply have more to offer.

The album is not without its highlights: the pounding chorus of “All in My Way,” the playful Trex-like verse heard on “You Never Let Up,” the drunken Stonesy quality of “Sunlight in Your Frown.” These moments showcase a band playing memorable music with conviction and energy. However, the album is ultimately weighed down by inconsistent material, and vocals that often fail to animate the music. Also, the lyrics don’t stand up very well under scrutiny, many of them sounding pretty slapdash.

Taste trumps all, however, and Tall Days pursue the sounds of a truly great style of rock music, one that they clearly revere. If they can hone their skills, they can stake their claim.

- Ira Rinn

www.talldays.com

Tall Days has an unabashed love of blues-based rock n roll and you hear that come through in their stripped-down, bash 'em out, raw style. Although born and bred in the Garden State, Tall Days' main inspirations draw from places far and wide such as Detroit (Stooges, White Stripes), Ohio (Black Keys) and of course across the pond (Stones, Faces, Who).

After their first two EP's received wide exposure on radio stations across the country including New York's Q104.3 FM's and WKZQ in South Carolina (which named Tall Days "one of the year's best"), Tall Days went back to their home studio to record the full length LP, "Battling the Elements" in 2011. Inspired by everyday battles to thrive and survive life's "elements", "Battling the Elements" perfectly showcases Tall Days' blend of pop melodies and rock grit.

TALL DAYS' brand new full length LP, "Battling The Elements" was released in September, 2011.