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Tom Tikka has done the remarkable in taking his pain and nostalgia and transforming it into the exciting, energetic EP That’s What Winston Churchill Said. In six tracks, Tikka and company take the listener on a journey of pain, anxiety and nostalgia but with a palpable playfulness and sense of humor. Starting with the commanding and fantastic intro “Turn Back the Time”, Tikka writes about his painful divorce from nearly a decade and imbues it with a sense of nuance instead of transforming it into an expected blame game.
It’s painfully honest which shouldn’t be a surprise given the subject material. Sonically the usage of wedding bells alongside the thumping drums and fantastic guitar create an incredible tonal dissonance creating a song that sounds romantic but lyrically stabs the listener in the chest similarly to how Tikka himself must have felt. One of the truly astonishing things Tikka does over the course of these six tracks is recreate the feeling of a time or place, but without succumbing to overindulgent homage. It’s undeniable that these tracks have a certain “90s” flair to them, and it’s part of the charm.
This is most likely in part due to the fact that Tikka wrote these songs over decades, some dating as far back as when he was 18, and they’ve all aged rather fantastically. Listening to this you’ll most likely be reminded of the subversive work of REM and the track “All She Wants is You” has some similarities sonically to “House of the Rising Sun” but this isn’t to its detriment. You can immediately tell that no matter how long ago these songs were written, they were all labors of love.
WEBSITE: https://www.tomtikka.com/
Speaking of labors of love, it becomes incredibly clear over the course of the albums duration that Tikka has dialed into the pains of affection and commitment. He’s not even speaking purely on a person or romantic relationship basis, but with life itself. Even on the titular “That’s What Winston Churchill Said” Tikka gets deeply nihilistic and even adjusts his vocal cadence with the sardonic affectations of a burnt out twenty-something that regardless of age feel more relevant than ever. The standout track though is “Jaded Mind” which carries the most distinct flavor of a post Gen-X ennui and cynicism with lines like “My generation’s ruled by screens, the past ones went to Mars.” It makes a lot of sense why Tikka would continue to refine and invest in songs like this, because of the relatability. Tikka gets dark, but he’s never self serious or devolves into navel gazing.
One complaint however is the tonal dissonance of “A Good Thing Going On,” the albums closing track. Initially I thought it was a tongue in cheek sendup of the kind of comforting love ballads of “simpler times”, but upon discovering that this song was written in earnest when Tikka was 18, it’s admittedly a confusing note to end on. It may have been wiser to either cut the track from this release or maybe find a different placement. It’s far and away from being a bad song, but it’s the hopeful black sheep of an angry but wildly entertaining flock.
by Wyatt Kennedy
