Nostalgia Trip: Tilly and the Wall - Bad Education

4/02/2017 02:04:00 PM


For me, personally, there are two distinct types of nostalgic music. First, there's the music I liked when I was a kid, which was either radio country of questionable quality or radio pop of questionable quality: it's fun to hear again every now and then, but it's not exactly anything I can return to frequently or still find the magic inside. Then there's the music I first got into 10-15 years ago, when I actually began to develop distinct taste beyond whatever I heard on the radio. A lot of this is still in my musical library, even if I often neglect it for newer discoveries, and I'm occasionally struck by a specific song's brilliance all over again whenever I hit shuffle or grab a CD at random to listen to in my car.

The latter is what happened recently with Tilly and the Wall's sophomore album, Bottoms of Barrels. Back in 2006, when it was released, it was actually what got me to reconsider my opinion on the band, who I had previously dismissed as overly twee and vaguely annoying. From front to back, it's a stunningly consistent album, with some of the catchiest, most joyous and energetic music I've ever heard. I actually still play it quite frequently, but it had been several months, long enough for me to forget just how brilliant it really is - particularly "Bad Education." Hearing that song for the first time was a revelation, a feeling that almost replicates itself every time it crops up again, except that, by now, I know every word and beat by heart.

"Bad Education" isn't the most thought-provoking or emotion-stirring song ever, but it's not intended to be - it's intended to be plain old fun, and it succeeds at that ten times over, a four-minute encapsulation of everything that makes the band's music so enthralling. Kianna Alarid, Neely Jenkins, and Derek Pressnall team up for gang vocals so exuberant and lively you would swear they come from twenty people, not just three. The pace is relentless, driven full speed ahead by percussion in the form of Jamie Pressnall's tap-dancing (the band's signature trait) and plenty of infectious handclaps. The track also draws on world music influences in its flamenco-flavored flourishes and unlikely amalgamation of piano, accordion, strings, and horns.

Catchy verses lead into catchier choruses lead into an even catchier bridge. The lyrics fly by in such a blur that you don't immediately pick up on their surreal imagery, but it fits the kaleidoscopic, cartwheeling atmosphere perfectly: "You're running in the wild, a horse carrying a child," Alarid and Jenkins sing in the first verse and, in the second, "You broke your fingers in the climb, scuffed up all your pretty shine." The chorus ups the ante even further, sounding like a cheerleader chant on steroids: "I'm tugging at the seatbelt/I'm jumping out the saddle/I'm shuffling my feet around/I'm kneeling at the steeple." In its final iteration, it culminates in a dance floor mantra: "I hope you feel it in your hands."

Despite the lengthy explanation I just gave, you really have to hear it to fully get it, and then you may never stop wanting to hear it. Honestly, "Bad Education" may be my favorite song of all time; at the very least, it's near the top of the list. I can't say that many other songs still feel as vital, fresh, and exhilarating for me after a couple hundred listens (at least) as this one does. Sadly, Tilly and the Wall's most recent album, 2012's Heavy Mood, seems to have been their last, as most of the members have moved on to other endeavors now. Still, at least they left "Bad Education" in their wake, not to mention a dozen other songs that threaten to rival it.

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