Tilly And the Wall w/Nicky Da B & RIcHIE: at The Mercy Lounge (Nashville, TN) Thu. October 18, 2012

Tilly And the Wall w/Nicky Da B & RIcHIE

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

For that fleeting moment when Omaha, Neb., was the indie-pop capital of America, Tilly and the Wall were the party-time, tap-dancing complement to Conor Oberst’s after-party mope fests. Now, roughly a decade into their career, the Tilly crew is out to prove they can still shake you out of your personal doldrums, despite the fact they’re all lawfully wedded thirtysomethings with diapers to change. In fact, on Heavy Mood — the band’s first album in four years — Jamie’s Pressnall’s tap-shoe percussion is decidedly stompier than it’s ever been before. “My baby’s got all kinds of guns,” Kianna Alarid Cameron bellows on the Best Coast-ish “All Kinds of Guns.” “And he sticks to every one.” No one would have blamed Tilly and the Wall for sticking to their own, but this brand of raucousness feels like new ground even for them.

—ANDREW CLAYMAN