TJ Divers - The Punishment You Say We Deserve (Album)

The Washouse Records

February 12, 2009, 02:04 PM

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For those of you unfamiliar with TJ Divers (and this includes myself) I feel that I should at least briefly outline who he is and what he does before getting to the album in question. Here goes: He's an English singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, formerly of UK band Lounge: Fly and Oz punks SeedyGringo, and last but by no means least it is claimed TJ Divers is an enigma.

So there we have it. Nice and succinct, no more is necessary [well except maybe just what exactly does he sound like?] Having been in a punk band you'd expect that sort of lineage and it is prominent in tracks such as the thrash racket of 'Pass The Ballot Box' and the seemingly mariachi-esque 'Save Ourselves'. However, there is much more depth to 'The Punishment...' as TJ Divers has clearly spent some solitary time in the studio honing his craft of creating more industrial and emphatic soundscapes.

'Brine And Chance' has an almost ethereal quality to it with it's swirling synths and melancholic vocals; whilst, 'The Citizens Lament' is just that. A lament about the state of the world with cutting lyrics "the war is over what a lie/the kind that turns the whole world blind" coming across almost like Black Francis in delivery. 'Perpetual Night' is like something out of a Quentin Tarantino movie with it's catchy, earthy hook.

The Punishment You Say We Deserve closes with two 7 minute tracks in 'Payback' a slow-burning diatribe about revenge, possibly about certain powerful people in this world, "don't try and tell me you don't know where you went wrong/we've been trying to tell you for so long/for all the time the world's have been here/for a million years and more". Finishing with 'Don't Go Back To Sleep' which lounges in before exploding in a crash of cymbals and fuzz that alternates throughout before launching into some Morello-esque riffs which delivers a fine finale to the album in what is a very stirring track.

An unusual mish-mash creates 'The Punishment...' but it's a satisfying listen confounding your expectations of just what you thought it could be.

Track-listing:
1. The Punishment You Say We Deserve
2. Save Ourselves
3. Lighter Than Air
4. Brine And Chance
5. Pass The Ballot Box
6. The Citizens Lament
7. Home
8. Perpetual Night
9. Payback
10. Don't Go Back To Sleep

Website:
TJDivers | Theres a wind round here that knows no consequence

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