Pearly Gate Music, the assumed music ego of Zach Tillman, finds a sound that is unceremonious but most certainly not unpolished on its self-titled album. It stands in the middle ground between artful sound and brusque lyrics. Aided by a sauntering guitar, the seventh track, “Daddy Wrote You Letters,” seems a sorry tale (“Daddy wrote you letters from the clink”). But the brazen candidness of the lyrics lends to it an ironic tone, and tension builds between melancholy story and unapologetic storyteller.
“Navy Blues” adds a dose of self-awareness to Tillman’s candid lyrics; the music begins small-child wary, a rambling strum session. Singing with growing confidence, Tillman delivers each verse as one reel in a long line of recorded confessionals, until the song grows into a heedless wilderness. Finally, with elements both human and not, the song ends on a climax of applause and howling; the sudden spillover of a carefully poured glass of water.
For more overflowing cups, come out to see Pearly Gate Music perform at Middle East Upstairs on Friday, June 18th at 8:00 PM.