Creaturesque

Creaturesque is the new album from Seattle pop-rock outfit Throw Me The Statue. Originally the one-man project of multifaceted musician and songwriter Scott Reitherman, TMTS has since expanded to a quartet with drummer Jarred Grimes, and multi-instrumentalists Aaron Goldman and Charlie Smith. The album is produced by TMTS and Phil Ek (The Shins, Built To Spill, Band Of Horses), and while the band retains much of the lo-fi bliss found on their critically acclaimed debut Moonbeams, Phil Ek’s mixing of Creaturesque brings the band’s maximalist pop sensibilities to new heights.

For starters, album opener, “Waving At The Shore,” invites you to the party with lush organ/guitar lines, only to have the horn section and big multitracked keyboards burst into the chorus with all the glitz of 80’s era Bowie. “Hi-Fi Goon” is a power pop jam, complete with buzzing synth and a sing-along chorus. On lead single “Ancestors,” Reitherman spins a somber story into a pop song tour de force amidst gazing guitars, athletic fuzz-bass and a crystalline wall of synthesizers.

Perhaps more sonically upbeat than its predecessor, Creaturesque’s details are at times painted in both optimistic and sobering tones. Reitherman’s scattershot poetics touch on an array of ideas; it’s oppressive American machisimo and Suburbanite sexuality. It’s soft drugs and convertible cars. It’s the struggle for higher expectations within the mess of modern life, and when wrapped up in the structures of TMTS’ sure-handed tunes it’s an all too delicious combination.

Since late 2007, Throw Me The Statue has been touring North America, Europe and Japan in support of Moonbeams. Along the way the band made appearances at SXSW, Sasquatch, Pop Montreal, Bumbershoot, Musicfest NW, Capitol Hill Block Party, and Noise Pop festivals. The band won over a slew of respected media outlets the world over including NPR, Paste, Magnet, Filter, The Onion, The Stranger, Under the Radar, Exclaim, The Fly, Stereogum, The Guardian, NME, MTV2 and more. TMTS released two well-received videos (Moonbeams standouts “Lolita” and “Yucatan Gold”) and even found its music featured in two national TV campaigns.