Friends To The End - 4-track music video series

Friends To The End

4-track music video series
​self-released; 2020

​3.8 out of 5

By Matt Jensen
 

Friends To The End seems to be entirely the work of Thom Kurtz. I have to admit I was a little confused about how he releases music. The four songs aren’t an EP or part of an album. There are four songs which seem to be part of a video series. I encourage you to check out the videos but I’m just going to be focusing on the music.

The first song I spent some time with was “Love On The Rocks (Shipwrecked) [feat. Julia Courtney]” and reminded me of something I would hear in a play. The field recordings of waves helped create this vibe. There is a mix of piano, percussion, guitar and other elements. The vocals are certainly the focal point and the song felt very visual to me which is why I’m guessing Kurtz decided to make a video. I’d say it’s a fairly straightforward song all things considered but well performed. 

“As Sure As Your Sorrow Is Joy'' features a different singer and instrumentation. There is a good amount of instrumentation which sounds like Viola and Piccolo taking the lead here. The male vocals sound good and similar to the last song. I felt like this song would work in theater in some kind of context. It’s robust and bursts at the seams and feels like a “production” where you could have a lot of people on stage.

Up next is “A World of Troubles (feat. Susanna Lee)” which might be the highlight. This was another song full of instrumentation and felt like a production. There are horns, strings , percussion and much more. It’s also very catchy.

Last up is “Where’d You Put the Baby” which felt like an outlier. It’s more rock based and I was reminded of Talking Heads and Bowie to a lesser extent. The song is also playful and quite fun. It’s the most danceable song.

​These four songs were well produced. The recording quality was impressive especially given the amount of instrumentation. Suffice it to say this was a unique release. Either way there is a lot to explore which you can do more of at his website. Take a listen.

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