A transformation like no other

Few artists go through a personal transformation, a true renaissance of the soul, quite like the one King Tuff (aka Kyle Thomas) has had over the past couple of years. After playing his trade in bands with Ty Segall and other lo-fi punk royalty, the Vermont native began to perform under the King Tuff moniker in 2006 and released Was Dead —an album of mostly wailed-out love songs and thick, longhaired, garage punk songs in 2008. Thomas’s latest release as King Tuff, however, is a far cry from the musician’s previous material. Concurrent experimentation and sheer creative prowess come together to produce The Other: a slow-burning candle and psychedelic romp through the confines of Thomas’s sharp mind.

On the creative process behind The Other, and the album’s title track, Thomas told Paste Magazine: “’The Other’ is basically where songs come from, it’s the hidden world, it’s the mystery. It’s the invisible hand that guides you whenever you make something. It’s the thing I had to rediscover—the sort of voice I had to follow—to bring me back to making music again in a way that felt true and good.” This sense of disorientation, only to be led back onto the path by some invisible creative force, can be found in most corners of this album: from the sinewy sax and childhood inspiration on “Raindrop Blue,” to the oddly comforting “Circuits in the Sand,” about a somewhat comforting future without technology, to the spaced out “No Man’s Land.”

In all, The Other represents a departure for King Tuff. There are some heavier elements to the album, such as the squealing guitar and rapid rhythm of “Ultraviolet,” but for the most part these songs are tamer—thoroughly engaging the listener in their unique encapsulation of a single entity, but bearing closer to a psychedelic rock aesthetic over a garage punk one. In the process, Thomas essentially lets the songs play themselves. The result is a cohesive album with plenty of thought-provoking ideas and weirdness.

Rich with saxophone, reverb and rhythms that sound as if they were peeled off the back of classic disco records, The Other plays like the bizarre third eye of King Tuff: an overseeing tourist in a world outside of our outsider understanding, attempting to make sense of his own existence. Each of the ten songs has a distinctive heightened perspective as if Thomas was away sharpening his mind like a sword to a psychedelic whetstone in the four years since 2014s Black Moon Spell.

Standout tracks are numerous here, but some good starting points are the aforementioned “Raindrop Blue” (a thumping dance tune about dream cars, road trips and inner discovery), the jangly warmth of “Thru The Cracks” and the epic “No Man’s Land.”

King Tuff will hit the road next month with Cut Worms supporting most dates. King Tuff’s live shows are sure to be as eclectic as the way The Other spins.