Album Review: "We Come With The Dust" by Triumph of the Wild

We Come With The Dust

I feel like I have to explain what my little blog is more often than not.

To begin with, this is not a heavy metal blog.

I like to think of what we do here as something eclectic. It's a music blog and I would wager that you would not get the same coverage, if a bit uneven, of a wide variety of styles.

So, I say that because today we're looking at some music that frankly I cannot pigeonhole into a genre. For lack of a better term, I'd call this roots or Americana.

I think however, to distill it down to that is a bit of a disservice.

Triumph In The Wild is now on their sophomore album and I feel lucky enough to be able to review it. After five months in the Deep South, our friends from San Diego came back a little bit different.

Triumph of the Wild sitting on a train.

To begin with, this is not an album where it starts and immediately your toe is tapping, your heart is singing, and this music seems like the greatest thing you've heard in months.

Maybe it was just me because I was expecting something different.

This album is twangy.

There's no bass guitar to speak of. The percussion is as sparse as the population on Tattooine.

In fact, all of the music is sparse. All of what you'll hear on this record is done by two people. The lead singer, Christy Barrett, also plays the percussion and the kazoo. The guitarist, Ryan Schilling, sings harmonies and plays the harmonica.

Before I get any farther, that harmonica playing is mournful and awesome. It should also be mentioned that his guitar work is rather fun as well.

Yes the kazoo pretty much kicks ass just in theory, but it also does in practice too.

Barrett's vocals are powerful, unique, and fill up the space of this music perfectly. The closest vocals I've heard to compare would be Beth Hart, but I think that's largely in delivery and only slightly in timbre.

We Come With The Dust would play well in a small venue or while I'm sitting outside with a drink in my hand. This music is perfectly intimate, morose, and yet still maintains the sunny disposition of San Diego, CA.

Release: 4/7/15
Genre: Roots Rock
Label: DIY
Facebook Link