Album Review: Third Mouth by Alexander Tucker

Alexander TuckerThird Mouth[Thrill Jockey; 2012]By Colin Joyce; May 16, 2012Purchase at: Insound (Vinyl) | Amazon (MP3 & CD) | iTunes | MOGTweetAlexander Tucker’s Dorwytch was released to almost universal acclaim. It may not have been covered on a wide variety of outlets (this very website was one that didn’t pick up on it), but those that did choose to cover it lavished it with praise generally reserved for artists much more hyped than Tucker ever has been. So, being the dutiful internet reader and music fan that I am, I went out and purchased the album, despite having never listened to any of Tucker’s previous five.

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Alexander Tucker's second Thrill Jockey release exhibits a continued lean toward brainy Anglo-pop, although it's most certainly still infused with his avant-garde past. From the soaring opener "A Dried Seahorse," which splits the difference between XTC and, say, The Incredible String Band, to more droning fare, such as the rather Eno-esque pair, "Window Sill" and "Andromeon," Tucker's onto some kind of progressive folk pop epiphany. His proclivity for experimental electronics shows up here as well, whether briefly dotting a tune (the swirling end of "Mullioned View") or comprising one entirely (the lurching electronics of "Rh").

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Third Mouth is an inward journey. It’s not, as some have suggested, a folk album; it belongs to no tradition, and the lyrical references to place and nature are mostly imaginary and symbolic. The only landscape the songs reflect is that of the mind - a mind - and the only community a community of one. If it evokes a sense of mythology, then it’s strictly personal, rooted in Tucker’s own memories, associations and dreams.

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