Tremolo Please - Too Much EP

Tremolo Please

Too Much EP
self-released; 2016

3.9 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

The Sydney, Australia duo Tremolo Please began as the solo vehicle for singer guitarist Stephen Farrell who played loop-based tunes and during live performances layered his baritone guitar in murky feedback to get bass-y tones. But Farrell began to see how he was pigeonholing himself in terms of the kind of sounds he could get especially when it came to the drums. So he added a drummer, namely Chris Natour and the possibilities of what the pair could accomplish became endless. The fruits of their labor eventually turned into their bad ass balls out EP Too Much. 

From the get go the pair, via Farrell’s vocals, give the listener some pretty straightforward terms as to what they’re in for here. On the transient dream pop opener “Too Much” Farrell boasts “Too is never enough time” matter of factly in a gruff sing speak over a sludgy riff and a toe-tapping cymbal heavy beat.

Next up comes the upbeat Queens of the Stone Age riffage of “Faster.” Then comes the slow and ethereal dreamscape of “It’s Okay,” which combines doubled vocals and hazy riffs with crisp and slow deep bass beats and a guitar solo drenched in psychedelia. Then the pair change it up on the hard and happy sounding lo-fi rocker “Don’t You Think” with grungy riffs that sound like Bleach/Incesticide era Nirvana and a sweet guitar solo straight out of the ‘70s backed up by devil-fist pumping drum beats.

Then “Never Fall” happens. It starts out light and jazzy and then makes its way into ‘70s psych-rock territory with fuzzy guitars and wind in the leaves drum lashings. Speaking of lashings the pair close out Too Much with the schizo-grunge “Turn Off Mainstream Media” which again recalls that grungy era of Nirvana but also the noise punk poetry of Sonic Youth. 

​Tremolo is a David and Goliath act. For only being two people they make a ton of noise and that’s exactly what their modus operandi has seemed to be from the onset. Challenged excepted and competitors bested Tremolo make bigger bands seem small.

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