Tarfu is an experimental alternative rock group from Washington DC, comprised of Geoff Simons (vocals and guitar), David Morton (bass), and Jon Brooks (drums). They often go by pseudonyms (Geoff as “Misu” or “Misuteru,” David as “Camp Counselor Phil” or “Lip,” and Jon as “Tsu the God”).
I talked about Tarfu in my first “DMV Local Bands” article several months ago, but I am talking about Tarfu today because they released an EP entitled "Exquisite Corpse” back in April on their BandCamp, and I have just now listened to it and want to give my review.
So here it is, my review of Tarfu’s “Exquisite Corpse.”
The first thing that caught my eye was the crediting of former (?) lead guitarist Tovaun McNeil (much better known by his awesome stage name “Aeoxis”). I’m not entirely sure if these songs were recorded before or if he’s back with the band (it’s not my place to speculate), nevertheless, Aeoxis’ heavier playing style definitely adds depth to Tarfu’s guitar sound, and he often produces higher range melodic parts that compliment Misu’s rhythm playing. The dual guitar is noticeable on a track like “Smoke Monster” or the instrumental tracks of “Shiomi” and “Shiomi (Pt. II)." Phil and Tsu provide a consistently good backbeat as a locked-in rhythm section in every track they're on.
The EP starts with the aforementioned instrumental track “Shiomi,” something that Tarfu has done on previous releases, like “It’s Not Me, It’s You,” which featured the accompanying instrumental tracks “Side A (Sunrise)” and “Side B (Sunset).” These tracks are pretty low tempo compared to some of the quicker tracks on this EP, and if you play them back to back, they do kind of bleed into one another, like two movements of a symphony, with the first part raising the action and the second part bringing the audience back down. Tarfu does this very well, and I would say that they have improved beyond the first time they did this on “It’s Not Me, It’s You.”
The middle three tracks are all songs that will be familiar to those who have attended Tarfu’s live shows. The first of these is “Witch Hunter,” a song which often begins live with Tarfu beginning a story about how they were in feudal Japan and they met a witch, and then jumping into the fast and catchy opening riff. Overall, the song is very fun, and Misu’s vocals are layered and really clear, with a kind of echo effect on them. The track cools down nicely towards the end, with the guitars harmonizing with the vocals: “the wiiiitch is deaaaaaad."
The second track is “Smoke Monster,” which starts out with a fuzzy guitar muddily chumming out the melody of the song. The song is a big jam song, as (presumably) Aeoxis rips through a guitar solo in the middle of the song, and Misu proclaims “it turns out we’re not all dead,” before the song rips into the crowd participation of the song: the backing vocals screech “Shot gun, hand gun!” as Misu begins listing countries (mostly) until he settles on “North Koh-REE-uh! South Koh-REE-uh!” and continues as the song fades in a big, shouting, beautiful mess. (It’s fantastic, and even more fun when you see it live.)
The third track in the middle of the two parts of “Shiomi” is “Absent Minded,” a softer song in the verse, at least in comparison to the two previous tracks, but explodes in the chorus, as Misu cries out, in my favorite vocal hook on the EP, “Help me I’m scared / That I can’t be alone / Nobody cares / I’m so impaired.” It’s the most serious song on the EP, and easily the longest, clocking in at almost six and a half minutes. It’s sorrowful, with the song cooling down towards the five minutes mark, with vocal harmonies saying: “I feel your absence all the time / I think you’re absent in my mind.” It's really great song structure and a song that has grown on me the more I've listened to it, making it one of my favorite songs in Tarfu's entire catalog.
After the second part of “Shiomi,” the EP admittedly makes a left turn with the closing track “Ceasefire,” an emotional, instrumental, and electronic track, which features a flute melody that sounds familiar (if it’s a sample, I’m unsure of where it’s from). It took me by surprise when I was first listening to the EP, but it is actually very smooth, and pretty great, and features some sonically interesting vocal samplings by Misu.
Tarfu also released “Exquisite B-Side” on the same day as “Exquisite Corpse,” an accompanying EP which contains some isolated guitar tracks from older songs like “Brain Damage” and “Cloud Waves," as well as some electronic compositions more similar to “Ceasefire," like “Bitter Pill” (which features a sample of the 8-bit version of Sex Bob Omb’s “Threshold”) and “Monster Island,” both of which are pretty upbeat and have a lot of percussion in them, but are not what I expect going into a Tarfu record admittedly, although that is something that may change in the future. Tarfu may begin incorporating more electronic influences into their music; anything's possible.
The B-side EP features “Lone Star,” a single that had been on Tarfu’s Soundcloud for a while, and one that I was already familiar with and like a lot. It has the great opening line of “I’m surrounded by normal people / Got nothing in common with them / Feels like I ain’t human." “DBTS” or “Don’t Break the Seal” also makes an appearance, a track that has very catchy guitar harmonies between Misu and
I really enjoyed this EP and the side EP that accompanied it. I’ve seen Tarfu several times live, so I knew a lot of these songs simply because they played them live before they recorded them. I would like to hear the opinions of people who haven’t been in a crowd all jumping and chanting along with “Smoke Monster” or hearing about feudal Japan in “Witch Hunter.”
My opinion, though, is that this is probably my favorite collection of songs/EP release from Tarfu. They just seem to keep getting better, whether in terms of recording, production, mixing, or simply songwriting. That’s not to say I don’t like their other releases; for certain I do, but “Exquisite Corpse” perfectly encapsulates all that the live Tarfu show has to offer, and I sincerely hope that this EP convinces more people to come out and see them because they truly are something to see.
Listen to the EP and tell me what you think:
Did you love it? Hate it? Just feel kinda eh?
Lemme know in the comments below!
Thank you all for reading!
