Tiger Shadow - Rise Of The Tiger Shadow [Album]

  

Tiger Shadow Music

Tiger Shadow from Leeds cite Roots Manuva, Pink Floyd, Sharepusher, Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead and Led Zeppelin amongst their key influences. They describe their music as sounding like crossing Hip-Hop, Funk, Rock,
Electronica, Blues, Jazz and anything else we can lay our hands on. Tiger Shadow were developed out of a home-based project by Jim Tycho (synths, acoustic guitar, bass) and vocalist Komla MC, before adding guitarist Dave
Pearson and drummer Karim Nashar to their current line-up.

"The Rise Of The Tiger Shadow" is their debut album and on first listen I can definitely hear some of the influences they had previously cited. There is a large hint of Pink Floyd guitar in the first couple of tracks, and in track
four the guitar sounds almost like what would happen if Hendrix had at some point been in Floyd. The fusion of what can simply be described as rock music with Hip-Hop vocals works really well, which I certainly didn't expect. Furthermore I anticipated the album to be more like traditional dance music than it is.

Indeed, Tiger Shadow seem to have taken care not to fall into the traditional lyrics of the Rap and Hip-hop artist trap. It's strange to hear lyrics obviously influenced by this genre but without any reference to the all too common drugs / guns / sex / violence you might expect from traditional Hip-Hop. Profanity on this CD is not to be heard, which makes it all the more refreshing.

'Iron Filings' blends a funky rhythm with vocals declaring "maybe one day you will hear us on the radio" before the guitars cut in. There's some laid back keyboards that are trying to give a soothing feeling alongside the wailing guitar solo which is rather understated, being partially hidden behind the thump of the drums. The final track on the CD, 'Hold On Tightly' opens with drums and a synth "wash" that reminds me of Tangerine Dream. The vocals of Komla dominate the song from then on. Rock guitars once again emerge which builds up and is left echoing to the end.

Comparisons have been made between Tiger Shadow and Massive Attack / Faithless. "Rise of the Tiger Shadow" is an impressive debut album though and I would draw a comparison to Senser, whose single I recently reviewed, although Tiger Shadow are not as heavy or political as Senser. I think
there is definitely a link between the two bands even if it is only the vocal style.