by Jon Shina (@___flower___sounds___)
Kyle Thomas, the scraggly long haired urban hippy behind the moniker King Tuff, has lived out every Millennials’ dream music career. Thomas started out in punk bands in his tiny hometown of Brattleboro, Vermont in the late 90s to a surprisingly robust music scene. As the freak folk fad of the early millennium began to take shape, Thomas formed the sprawling multi-member psychedelic folk band Feathers along with all of his closest friends and collaborators in a fifty mile radius to much Indie cred and success. In tandem with Feathers’ tenure, Thomas began collaborating with Gen X Indie superstar J Mascis, and the two formed the stoner metal band Witch to even more indie cred and clout. Thomas couldn’t be creatively contained to one genre or band, and in 2007 he released the album Was Dead, a loose 60s revival garage rock album under the name King Tuff. With nasally vocals that were original, and a rock and roll attitude that was undeniable, the excitement around King Tuff took off like a rocket. This trajectory eventually landed Thomas comfortably into the arms of Sub Pop, with his first major release in 2012, the self-titled album King Tuff. Thomas was now an indie rock sensation, with charting songs and national attention.
The drawback to success is the inevitable compromises that you have to make in life to following your dreams. For Thomas, leaving the green forests and small country living of his hometown of Brattleboro, and moving across the country to the opposite biome and city sprawl of Los Angeles has been his one regret. Thomas’ longing for an alternative life, one where he never left the small town living, is the muse behind his latest album Smalltown Stardust.
Smalltown Stardust is not the work of Thomas alone, and one of his strong suits in his creative process is his willingness to collaborate. Sasami Ashworth, who goes by the recorded artist name SASAMI, co-wrote and co-produced all the songs. Ashworth, who last year brought us the dynamic heavy and catchy album Squeeze on Domino Records, helps Thomas bring a more broad sound to his otherwise more conventional youthful rock and roll. Whereas contemporary artists like Tame Impala have more recently gone down the more synthy and yacht-rocky path, Thomas and Ashworth tread down the Beatles path, and look to albums like Abby Road for a fuller, more conventional sound that is in no way stale. This album brings more piano and strings, and less fuzz pedals than previous King Tuff releases.
Now that Kyle Thomas is entering his fourth decade of existence, he has artistically hung up his younger beer soaked baseball cap, and replaced it with an older more used and vintage eccentric hobbit hat from the shire. This new middle aged Thomas has directed his lyrical focus on the nostalgia of his once simpler younger self, roaming the pain, boredom, and uncertainty of his adolescence. This vibe is most present on the album’s self-titled single “Smalltown Stardust,” where Thomas paints a rural description of his hometown of Brattleboro. Through his spectacular unconventional music career, he has always stuck to his biggest asset… being a very talented songwriter. Smalltown Stardust is the natural progression to this songwriters’ talent and life story.