We’re coming up on two months of Truth or Consequences New Mexico’s second EP This Time of Year being out in the world and although it has about 20 years and 10 months to go until it can buy cigarettes, it’s definitely old enough for me to review it; in fact, it’s about two months older than I’d like when reviewing a new release and that’s life sometimes, but better late than never for the best EP I’ve heard in years.
Truth of Consequences New Mexico, contrary to popular belief and to what their band name suggests, is a four-piece alt-country outfit hailing from the mean streets of Chicago. They’ve been actively putting out music for the last three years and have two EPs and a handful of singles to their name, with This Time of Year being their most recent release that came out April 11. With five songs clocking in at just under 20 minutes long, This Time of Year is the cherry on top of the grandiose ice cream sundae of twangy indie rock we’ve been blessed with in the last few years.
Now, what makes Truth or Consequences New Mexico stand out besides their excessively long name, you might ask? Well, maybe not a whole lot to the untrained ear, but there’s something this band gives me that I can’t fully get with bands like Wednesday, Hotline TNT, Ratboys, Slaughter Beach, Dog, or any other band you might compare them to. TCNM (I’ll be abbreviating from here on out to give my keyboard a rest) wears their influences on their sleeve, combining them all into one great big cauldron, resulting in a delicious strain of dreamy, distorted alt-country that you’d be hard-pressed to find done better anywhere else, and that is truly impressive. If someone were to ask me to make a greatest hits compilation of modern alt-country, I would feel compelled to put every single song off This Time of Year. Every single song is a greatest hit, every single song rocks harder than the last, every single song is more emotional than the last, and every single song is catchier than the last to the point where I find myself more excited each time the EP ends to start it all over again.
“Between GA” opens the This Time of Year with a fun, well-paced chordal groove and lyrics like “You say nothing could worry me // that worries me enough” that are sung in such a fun, twangy cadence that you just immediately know this record is going to be a fun romp. Even if you mellow out the vocal style for both this song and the EP at large, the production still gives such a modern alt-county vibe with the organic crunch of the ever-so-slightly distorted rhythm guitars, the bright and shiny harmonious guitar leads, and drums that sound so beautifully analog you’d have thought you were standing next to them while they were recording it. However, going back to singer and guitarist John Parker’s vocals, this song, as well as “Honey, We’re in Hell!”, perfectly exemplify what keeps bringing me back to this release time and time again and it’s the mere fact that the vocals are just so damn fun. Cora Pancoast, the other lead singer who actually sings the majority of the songs on this release, brings a delightful and anxious juxtaposition to the band’s sound while still somehow making their songs sound like the same band on the same album. However there’s something just so endearing about listening to the exaggerated sharp twang that Parker showcases on their tracks that put the biggest grin on my face. I’d be remiss not to mention how hard Carys Uribe percussively destroys on this track. With it being the most energetic and fast-paced song on the EP, Uribe delivers and delivers hard, being the unsung shining star in what makes this song the only opener I’d care to consider for this release.
“Seed of Doubt” has such a lovely late 90s/early 2000s groove to it and serves as an excellent introduction for singer and guitarist Cora Pancoast, entering our collective ears with the effortlessly catchy intro lyric: “I was lookin’ for the seed of doubt shifting somewhere underground…” After the song settles into a nice mid-tempo verse groove, we get to the prechorus of the song which is one of my favorite moments on the EP where Pancoast anxiously sings “Who cares, guess I’ll be fine // Instincts sharpen up with time // Who cares, guess I’ll be fine // Will I be fine?” Not only is that line delivered with a building anxiety, but production-wise, there seems to be a minor vocal effect added to create the illusion of distance, almost as if Pancoast is slowly running away from their problems, their responsibilities, their troubles. The chorus is one of the best on the EP, and with the whole song sounding like one emotional rollercoaster, the chorus definitely compares to that feeling of hitting the very top of the incline right before flying down, racing towards the bottom at a breakneck speed. After the second chorus, instead of burning out and fading away, Pancoast and company turn things up well past 10 in the final minute of the song, repeating the lyric “If I’ll do that for you then I’ll do anything” each time with more and more anger until Pancoast is screaming at the top of their lungs as their vocal cords consider asking for some much needed vacation time. This song should act as a blueprint for other bands just starting out on how to properly and compellingly tell a story through music, guiding the listener through serene ups and turbulent downs before coming to a satisfying end.
“Honey, We’re in Hell!” was the first song I heard by TCNM, and if I’m being honest, I was a bit underwhelmed at first listen. Don’t get it twisted, I did like the song enough to give the whole EP a shot, but I didn’t quite understand why this song was their most popular, at least on streaming services. If you had to pick a ballad-esque song on the EP, it would definitely be this one with its slower rhythms, aching melodies, and ethereal yet melancholic vocals. The more I listened, the more this song wrestled open its jammed doors to me and wow, did I ever end up on the “Holy crap, this song is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard” mountain by the third or fourth listen. There’s just something so mysterious and alluring about this song and a big reason for that is the production which sounds so expansive and mature for a local indie band on only their second EP (that’s definitely no insult, it’s just very impressive to hear such a young band have such an experienced and well oiled sound after such little time!)
I love every aspect of “Honey, We’re in Hell!” from the blissfully mundane and tepid sounds of the verses to how they build and burst open into a serene yet gargantuan chorus, and how the song finally ends with Parker repetitively singing “How could you know what I’m thinking // How could I know what you’re thinking” in that trademarked Parker twang that will never not make me smile no matter if it’s sung against a blistering country rock backdrop or a painfully bruised musical meditation on utter and complete hopelessness. “Honey, We’re in Hell!” strikes me as the perfect example of how the band remains within their own unique sonic sphere when constructing an alt-country ballad but making it so sonically diverse, interesting, and even angry that by the end of listening to the song, you have this weird eery feeling like you know what you just listened to but you aren’t exactly sure if you understood it but you’re captivated all the same. As incoherent as that sounds, it’s how I feel, so I’m sticking with it.
The album ends on two of the more fun songs on the EP: “Standing Still” and “The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics”. The former is probably the twangiest tune on the EP that immediately reminded me of Magnolia Electric Co. within the first few seconds of the song before taking a sharp left into Tigers Jaw-esque shades of midwest emo, hoisted up strongly by Cora Pancoast’s colorful vocals. This song has my favorite sounding verses on the EP with the vocals and rhythm section complementing each other to form a sound that can only be described as “depressively optimistic”. While the song has probably the shortest chorus on the EP, it might be the catchiest as I’ve caught myself repeatedly muttering “Ooh, well I'm running // And standing still” more times than I care to admit. The song also allows the bassist Benjamin Goldenberg to shine a bit with some colorful bass solo breaks that only add to the wonderful palette of unique instrumentation this song offers with it also being home to the most slide guitar on the record.
Every time I listen to this record, I find a new favorite song or a new moment of a song to obsess over. However, it’s still so hard to beat the rush I get when listening to “The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics” over and over again. When I first heard this song, I couldn’t even believe it was written by such a relatively unknown band because it sounds like such a bona fide and battle-tested indie hit. The song isn’t the most audacious or energetic song on This Time of Year, it actually sounds quite tired and defeated in a sense, but the delightfully atypical chord progressions of the verse coupled with the absolute showstopper of a chorus is what makes me believe this band is destined for greatness. I’m grateful that I somehow made it in before their most dedicated fans end up calling themselves “truthers”. The chorus balances the unmistakable qualities found in all the best alt-country/indie folk melancholia with a power pop catchiness that you’d find on a recent The Beths song and lyrics that are so brilliantly metaphorical that they almost make you blush: “Left my coat at home // Let my body warm the air // But it's not like I need it // This time of year”. Similar to a few other songs on this EP, the song builds to a magical finale with the EP’s title being muttered repetitively into a breathtaking dreamy soundscape of reverb-soaked guitars, vocals, and cymbal-heavy drums before ending on an acoustic riff that sounds like it just stepped off a bus from Philadelphia. As the song comes to a close, it’s impossible not to hear the reverence that the band has for it, and it’s truly beautiful to hear.
The progression TCNM has made from their last EP, TCNM, released right at the start of 2023, is remarkable, and there’s nowhere to go but up from here. This Time of Year finds the band embracing a much twangier sound but without losing their edge, and before long, they’ll be kicking ass and taking names with their unique take on a indie subgenre that is on a meteoric rise in popularity right now. It’s not so often that I walk away from a release completely in love with every song, but This Time of Year has turned into my favorite time of year. With songs that feel so familiar at a foundational level but have such intricate and subtle production and songwriting choices that stand out amongst their peers, TCNM is a band I’m grateful to have found so early, and I’m completely honored I have a space to review and preach the gospel that is their newest EP to my heart’s content.
If you want to catch them live, be sure to grab a ticket to OK Cool’s release show for their debut album on August 14 upstairs at the Subterranean. There is a 100% chance the show will be the best thing you can possibly do on a random Thursday evening in August, so please show up and support your local indie bands!
