(Click the album art to listen to a full stream of the album)
Losing a frontman is the most difficult transitive event
that can occur with a band. Often times the stress of trying to pick a new
singer and adapt your sound to that new voice is too much to bear and the band
decides to call it quits instead of naming a replacement, like what happened
last year to Daytrader. Other times the
frontman position becomes a revolving door of different voices and
personalities, none of them gelling with the rest of the band members or living
up to the promise of the original singer (bands like Close Your Eyes have
suffered through this fate). Still other times, a new frontman takes the band
to new heights unimagined by the band with the original singer, resulting in a
newfound creative strength, as was the case when Adam Lazzara took over for
Antonio Longo in Taking Back Sunday.
The case of Tides of Man breaks the mold of the above three
scenarios entirely. When the band’s lead vocalist and lyricist Tilian Pearson
left, first for Dance Gavin Dance and later for a solo album as well, the
future of the band seemed uncertain. They posted that they were soliciting
auditions for a new vocalist through the band’s email account. They released a
demo that sounded like their previous album Dreamhouse with Tilian’s vocals
removed. But then they announced the piece of news that would change the course
of their band entirely: They would transition to a post-rock songwriting style and
release an album without a vocalist or lyrics. The news came as a surprise to
the band’s fanbase, with some praising the evolution while other were quick to
eulogize them. But, with all this said, did Tides of Man make the right
decision?
