‘Resort’ is a handy guide to the early workings of Tuff Love, merging the Scottish duo’s three EPs - ‘Junk’, ‘Dross’ and ‘Dregs’ - into a whole. Unfortunately, the joins are far from seamless. Though the clusters of tracks have their charms, the compilation doesn’t work as a cohesive piece and, despite the chopping and changing, suffers from a bad case of monotony.
Sweet Discontent makes it easy to see why comparisons have been drawn with the likes of Courtney Barnett, as Julie Eisenstein and Suse Bear beautifully mix lo-fi punk with pop sensibilities. But, with their understated and inoffensive vocals, Tuff Love pack much less of a punch than some of their peers. Copper, for example, brings some dark subject matter to the table but the lacklustre delivery belies the words and risks it being overlooked.
The pair’s subdued approach, in particular on Poncho, is reminiscent of early Weezer, but they have a tendency to struggle when bringing tracks to any sort of climax.
Slammer gets close, but when Eisenstein and Bear begin harmonising while declaring “I’ve got rage!” you realise that if it’s not going to happen now, it’s not going to. It doesn’t, and the end result is they leave the listener wanting closure.
The tonality of the record takes a slightly minor turn on That’s Right, doing well to regain your attention, but Carbon is the most noteworthy song here. It represents the direction in which Tuff Love should continue, with stripped back, haunting vocals accompanied by guitars that veer more towards prog than punk.
It’s clear this band are chock-full of potential. But if they’re ever going to realise it, they need to add more bite to their bark or continue what Carbon started and give the punk a rest for a while. The current disparity between vocals and music doesn’t add up to a winning formula.
Tuff Love Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri February 05 2016 - GLASGOW Stereo
Mon February 22 2016 - EDINBURGH Summerhall
Wed February 24 2016 - HEBDEN BRIDGE Trades Club
Thu February 25 2016 - LONDON Fields Brewery
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