Brighton

Perhaps best described as something like 'gothic country', a listen to Terse Affection on his Bandcamp page provides a pretty pleasurable experience. It's lo-fi ...

There are some songs (such as ‘Full Moon Over Wagtown’) which are perennial features of a Truax show. Truax stalks the room – gazing fixedly into the eyes of the audience as he drifts towards the stage sporting brightly illuminated glasses that cast otherworldly shadows across his features. But he is also somewhat (if not entirely) unique in the choice of instruments that supplement his delicious voice and electric resonator guitar. What deranged mind conceived of this contraption is a matter for Thomas and his confessor to discuss in private… A whirly-gig showstopper that sees Thomas Truax transformed briefly into as living Lesley Speaker. But one thing is for sure – no two sets are ever the same – and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Speaking of L&R, anyone spot that the band are reforming for their first live outing in 15 years in 2023….playing a golf course in California of all places…we, for one, hope this heralds some UK shows before too long. There is still an atmospheric vibe going on that has the more enthusiastic audience members swaying, but it was only a subsequent foray into the Terse Affection studio work that uncovered an artist with some real appeal. It’s lo-fi and dark, but textured in a gritty way, with some echoes of Love And Rockets’ less poppy numbers drifting around the edges of the mix. Or The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band? Well every time we see him we pick up another influence or comparison lurking in the show. Should you find yourself lucky enough to be in range of a Thomas Truax performance, what are you going to experience (besides the weird array of instrumentation)?