Tshitaki - Tshitaki EP

Sun 3rd Oct, 2004 in Music Reviews

Tshitaki are a power-pop trio hailing from Sydney, consisting of: Nik Philpott on vocals and guitars; Paul Mullins on bass and Paul Noakes on drums. Considering the fact that Tshitaki have only been in existence for a little over a year, their debut self-titled EP is quite an impressive first step.

The Tshitaki EP was completely self-financed by the band themselves, so there is no room to doubt that the band has literally put everything they have into backing their music. All seven songs on the CD are relatively short but still manage to be packed full of well-synced riffs accompanied by seemingly commanding vocals from Philpott.

Standout songs are Up and Happy Smile which is a song definitely unalike Father And Son by Cat Stevens. Whilst the melodies in both songs are extremely similar, I would think that this has been a deliberate move from Tshitaki and in any case it makes for a satisfying listen and still holds its own original attributes.

The opening track, Work It Out, demonstrates Philpott’s ability to hold somewhat heavy, raw-edged vocals in the chorus balanced with softer styled verses. The contrast in the vocals is a good indication of the versatility that Philpott has, thus making him a very influential frontman for the band.

The last song on the album, Dream Away, immediately guides your hand to dream land with soft whispering vocals “we can see for miles, and miles, and miles…” The song opens this way and then breaks into louder more hard hitting music that almost wakes you up from this initial dream world. The song has a rather epic feel to it, given the fact it goes for over 11 minutes, when most of the other songs are a little over two minutes. Dream Away’s 11 minutes contrasts from heavy styled sections to soothing whispers from Philpott and this contrast once again makes it a very enjoyable song.

All-in-all with this just being the foundation EP for Tshitaki’s relatively young music careers, it can be seen as a rather well-polished CD accumulating to a promising future for the boys. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.