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American songwriter-inventor THOMAS TRUAX joins forces with ex-Slits/Banshees drummer BUDGIE to produce a gemstone of art-rock, post-punk and surreal Americana.
Thomas Truax is (pronounced troo-aks) an imaginative American singer/songwriter and inventor who has been touring and releasing records for 2 decades, usually performing solo with his own ‘band’ of self-made (sometimes mechanical) instruments. His music evades easy pigeonholing as his songs flit between art rock, post-punk, and a distinctive brand of surreal Americana. UNCUT Magazine wrote: "Truax is shaping up nicely as one of the great rock eccentrics.”
Budgie is an English drummer known best for his work with Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Slits, and The Creatures. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential drummers of Alternative music.
SPIN Magazine wrote: "Budgie drums up a marvel of kinetic syncopation and invention."
Currently he co-hosts a podcast with Lol Tolhurst of the Cure, and is writing an autobiography.
Mother Superior is the third in a series of motorized mechanical drum machines built by Thomas. She’s made primarily from recycled parts including bicycle wheels, hubcaps, spoons, a horn, and other percussive bits. She is widely celebrated for her ability to play steadily and make quite a din.
Allusions to dreams are woven throughout Thomas Truax’s 10th studio album Dream Catching Songs, whether they be literal night dreams, aspirations, fantasies or broken dreams.
As a shy art kid growing up feeling trapped in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, Thomas dreamed of being in a rock band. As a teen he moved to New York City and formed several of these in succession, but grew frustrated with the typical problems of keeping a human band together and committed. Especially when it came to drummers, whom it seemed were always jumping ship just as things started to go well. He finally decided to build his own motorized mechanical drummer and go ‘solo.’
He found a warm welcome for this new brand of lineup when touring Europe and the UK, and scored licensing deals for his first albums. Eventually he relocated to London.
Though he mostly sticks to his solo live routine and original compositions, in recent years he has collaborated with Jarvis Cocker, James Smith of Yard Act, and drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls/Violent Femmes). Following a meeting with David Lynch, he delivered a well-received covers album ‘Songs From The Films Of David Lynch’ .
When he had to leave England after his work permits were exhausted, he moved to Germany, and it was here while they were both performing at a festival event that Thomas and Budgie had a chance to get properly acquainted.
Thomas: “We had a great conversation over dinner. I’d been a fan of his work since my teenage days in Denver but he didn’t know mine. My performance was scheduled for later and he said he’d watch it. I warned him that sometimes human drummers take offense to Mother Superior, seeing that something so mechanical could, in a way, threaten to take their place.”
“But when I finished my set I went back stage and there was Budgie, waiting in the wings, very enthusiastic about my set. He was even holding a flower for Mother Superior, and said he was in love with her.”
“We crossed paths a few more times and we discussed the possibility of him doing some recording with myself and Mother S. on some new material I’d been working on and he was very much up for it. So when I was next touring through Berlin (where Budgie is based) I booked some extra days off the road and we set up to record in his underground ‘Bunker’.
“We really dove straight into it and he came up with incredible stuff. My tendency is to work slowly and if someone doesn’t stop me, I’ll work on the tiniest details forever. Budgie likes to work faster and stresses the value of spontaneity.”
“Spontaneous is where the best stuff happens,” he says. He also emphasizes the importance of chemistry in artistic collaboration: “What is it about creative energy? It’s to do with chemistry and relationship.”
Thomas jokes: “I worry that Mother Superior might run off with him, they obviously have a special chemistry.”
From the gentle allure of the opening title song through its final sweeping orchestrated mini-movie of a track, Dream Catching Songs is an inspired and powerful entry in Thomas’s catalog of recorded work, and a shining example of Budgie at his dynamic best. A poignant, sometimes tender, often raucous collection that - much like Thomas’s music machines - has been crafted with great care and affection.
Tracklist
1. Dream Catching Song
2. Everything’s Going To Be All Right
3. Birds & Bees
4.The Anomalous Now
5. Free Floaters
6. A Wonderful Kind Of Strange
7.Origami Spy Arrives In Paper Boat
8. A Little More Time
9. Big Bright Marble
10. The Fisherman’s Wishing Well Prayer