Lost Somewhere by Tanlines

Last night I caught Tanlines last stop on their first national tour.  The Echo (Los Angeles) was packed and the duo treated the sweaty crowd to a brand-new original, a couple old tunes and many tracks off their debut LP, Mixed Emotions.

In typical Tanlines style, between each song there was comical banter from percussionist/keyboardist/samplist Jesse Cohen, while singer/guitarist Eric Emm stood quietly on the side.  One of the best lines was “I love you guys.  I really do.  I don’t lie on stage ever.  It’s part of my onstage ‘act’.”  The intended irony was lost on most the crowd.

I was slightly disappointed that one of my favorite tracks, “Lost Somewhere” (posted above), didn’t make it into the set.  I really want to know if the melodic/lyric similarity to The Beach Boys “I Know There’s An Answer” was an intentional hommage to Brian Wilson or maybe a subconscious backwash-ripple from being intrenched in Pet Sounds.

For yr own investigation I created this tubechop.  If you play “Lost Somewhere” (above) at the 1:00 minute marker, it’s pretty obvious.

Lastly, I couldn’t help to notice the similarity of the Tanlines album art to Tears For Fears’ album art for the epic Songs from the Big Chair.  Musically they have some similarities as well, most notably on “Not the Same”.  At a parking lot SXSW show in 2010, frontman Jesse stated, “we are like Tears for Fears on beers”.

Anyway, I love these guys and hope they come back with a sophomore effort as soon as possible.