Fresh from her triumphant appearance with her full band on the main stage at this year's C2C festival shows in London, Dublin and Glasgow, Tenille Townes further enhances her growing reputation as a real artist of worth by releasing her new project, a seven track EP called ‘Masquerades'.
Previous projects, like her introductory ‘Worktapes' release and the 2020 debut album, ‘The Lemonade Stand' have given us glimpses of the power of Townes' writing. Songs like ‘Jersey on the Wall' and ‘Somebody's Daughter' have an emotional heft to them that many writers never quite achieve but they were written in the third person, telling stories about people and characters in Townes' world. The evolution of her, as both a writer and an artist, on the new ‘Masquerades' release comes with Townes drilling down into her own vulnerability and telling us all as listeners and observers how she feels about her life and where she is right now.
There is raw and painful honesty writ large across whole swathes of ‘Masquerades'. ‘When's it Gonna Happen' is an open, vulnerable tale of yearning as Townes airs her frustrations about not yet having found her soul mate as she reaches an age where those all around her are beginning to couple up and get married. ‘I can't be the only one thinking when's it gonna happen?' she asks on a song replete with piano flourishes and a ‘Somebody's Daughter' kind of swagger. I saw her play this song from the main stage of the O2 arena in London recently and can say it suits her ‘full band' persona incredibly well.
The duality of Tenille Townes is worth a mention, here, in its own right. She has previously wowed UK crowds playing intimate venues with just her guitar. Man, those vocals and the emotion that she puts into her ‘Worktapes' persona is something rare but on a big arena stage, something else, something bigger and rockier takes over her and she becomes a woman possessed! Hair flying, guitar arms pinwheeling, Townes is able to channel her inner Joan Jett and rock out with the best of them. A song like ‘When's It Gonna Happen' is perfect for that environment whilst other songs on ‘Masquerades', like ‘Villain in Me' and ‘Light In Your Eyes' will be better suited to small rooms and intimate shows. The former, a raw, evocative acoustically driven song sees Townes exploring self-loathing and self sabotage in a brutal way, singing about things like, ‘the long list of things about myself I want to change.' ‘Light in Your Eyes', meanwhile, is a chilled out, melodic track influenced by the likes of Fleetwood Mac and the Laurel Canyon artists of the 1970's. Some delightful Eagles-esque backing vocals permeate the choruses as Townes sings about highways and western skies.
Alongside ‘When's It Gonna Happen', Townes treats us to a second arena rock song in the shape of the terrific ‘Same Road Home.' This track is a big, anthemic radio friendly song driven by bombastic drums and AOR-leaning, ‘Life is a Highway' style guitars. The lyrics are inclusively ambiguous, which is the hallmark of a great writer, one who can write something meaningful which will appeal to a wide section of the public. ‘Aren't we all just looking for answers,' she sings, underpinned by some arena-sized ‘Woh oh' backing vocals and an 80's Springsteen kind of vibe. I can't wait to see this one played with the full band when Townes returns to the UK for her first headlining tour in October of this year.
Two final songs round out ‘Masquerades' and both songs, ‘When You Need It' and ‘Shared Walls' feature guest artists too! The former features Wrabel, an singer-songwriter famous for his 2017 hit, ‘The Village', which was dedicated to transgender people. Townes echoes the sentiment here, ‘You don't have to say you are fine,' she states, drilling right into the heart of mental health challenges and the insecurities we all share about ourselves. ‘When you've made it through one bad night, you can make it through a million,' she sings on this melodic, mid-tempo song with Pop-leaning production values and a whole bunch of heart.
‘Shared Walls', meanwhile, features Breland, who the UK recently fell in love with thanks to his talent and enthusiasm during his performances in London at the C2C festival in March. ‘Last night I heard you crying through the floor…..maybe we're going through the same thing? Townes asks a neighbour on this anthemic song that has a clever, lyrical concept, that of people all apartment living on top of each other but remaining strangers. The song builds steadily throughout and Townes and Breland harmonise perfectly together as the tension and the volume rises! A bombastic denouement means ‘Shared Walls' will be an epic song in Townes' live set but let's not ignore the fact that the lyrics hit home with as much gravitas and emotional resonance as anything that she's ever written.
The beauty of ‘Masquerades' is that the songs on the EP have a duality to them, similar to Townes herself. They can be played in small, intimate venues with just an acoustic guitar and a Canadian with some of the most emotive vocals in the industry or they can be loud, in-your-face rock songs that will make you dance, sing and think at the same time. There's an originality and a vibrancy to Townes' work that is elusive and rare to find, it should be cherished and protected by those in the industry around her. She has the ability to make you dance, sing and cry across the range of a single release. Tenille Version 2 is an upgrade, an improvement on what came before and that was already something pretty special to begin with. Thank goodness she's let us see behind her ‘Masquerade', her artistry and her craft is all the more stronger for it.
Tracklisting: 1. When You Need It (featuring Wrabel) 2. When’s It Gonna Happen 3. The Sound of Being Alone 4. Villain In Me 5. Shared Walls (featuring BRELAND) 6. Same Road Home 7. Light In Your Eyes / Record Label: Columbia Nashville / Sony Music Nashville Buy ‘Masquerades' Here
[rwp-reviewer-rating-stars id=”0″]
