Nets to Catch the Wind – Tigercub
By Ian Glackin
Nets to Catch the Wind, Tigercub’s newest album, punches hard in its gritty riffs and pulls the listener in with its dark themes and haunting vocals. Formed in Brighton in 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Jamie Stephen Hall and drummer James Allix ,quickly joined by bassist Jimi Wheelwright, Tigercub has since released four studio albums and a handful of EPs that fill out their heavy alternative rock/metal sound. Many have said that with their new album, Nets to Catch the Wind, Tigercub has now fully arrived in its truest form, becoming who they were always meant to be. Let’s unpack its twelve tracks/forty two minutes and hear what a listener (me) who had no idea who they were two days ago has to say about their new release.
When I was sifting through the Album of the Year website’s ‘new alternative rock releases’ section, Nets to Catch the Wind immediately grabbed my attention. The importance of a good album title cannot be overstated. The cynical, slightly paradoxical nature of the title established my intrigue, and I readied myself for a display of more lyrical cleverness. In a lot of ways, Tigercub has met my expectations. Songwriter Jamie Stephen Hall infuses nearly every song with themes of light and dark. “Hanging her stars beyond the dead of night…out of the dark she shines ivory light” in the album’s opening track ‘Silver Smile’ is followed by ‘Fall In, Fall Out’; “my fear of night/awake till morning light/I hide, confide/in twilight’s rolling tide.” Nets to Catch the Wind also grapples with the emotions of sadness and doubt that come with the confusion of letting someone go, especially in songs like ‘Nightmares’ and ‘Cut the Eyes Out of the Photographs’.
On the other hand, a lot of the songs (or parts of their lyrics) are basically about the same thing, making the album feel a bit repetitive. It seems like Hall and Tigercub write a lot about two things. The first is the aforementioned themes of dark versus light and cosmic occurrences. The second is the recurring mention of some “She” who has this entrancing power over the subject of the song. It seemed like every couple of minutes I was hearing lyrics like “She reads my palm along a little line/humming a lovesick silent lullaby” (from ‘Silver Smile’), or “I sail the channels of her heart…/caught the creeping tides within her” (from ‘I’m Breaking Out’). The schtick got old fast, and I spent a lot of time thinking to myself “oh wow, another heavy riff with some lyrics about this omnipotent ‘She’ and her stranglehold on Hall’s helplessly romantic imagination,” albeit in less eloquent terms. However, I paid less attention to the lyrics than I did other elements of the songs, which, in many cases, kicked ass.
Nets to Catch the Wind is full of gritty riffs supported by thunderous bass and drums. I actually found that the band had a lot of really interesting musical ideas. ‘My Paper Heart’ puts on full display the range of stylistic dynamics achieved by Tigercub. The verses shrink down to a minimalistic approach through a clean, chimey guitar sound, and is followed by a chorus and bridge of smashing drums and the essential fuzzed bass which bring the ferocity to the headbanging riff laid down by Hall. This energy is reached throughout the album, and is the main reason why Nets to Catch the Wind ended up growing on me. While it’s a little too heavy for my taste, and leans much further into metal than I think the band’s PR team would care to admit (having branded themselves as an alternative rock band), Tigercub’s Nets to Catch the Wind accomplishes a lot in its songwriting. The killer riffs, creative progressions, and overall in-your-face sound make up for the fact that the themes of the album are a little simplistic and repetitive. Nets to Catch the Wind has a lot of good songs, and I look forward to seeing if Tigercub can focus their obvious talent and creative minds on ideas that are a little bit more interesting.
On the other hand, a lot of the songs (or parts of their lyrics) are basically about the same thing, making the album feel a bit repetitive. It seems like Hall and Tigercub write a lot about two things. The first is the aforementioned themes of dark versus light and cosmic occurrences. The second is the recurring mention of some “She” who has this entrancing power over the subject of the song. It seemed like every couple of minutes I was hearing lyrics like “She reads my palm along a little line/humming a lovesick silent lullaby” (from ‘Silver Smile’), or “I sail the channels of her heart…/caught the creeping tides within her” (from ‘I’m Breaking Out’). The schtick got old fast, and I spent a lot of time thinking to myself “oh wow, another heavy riff with some lyrics about this omnipotent ‘She’ and her stranglehold on Hall’s helplessly romantic imagination,” albeit in less eloquent terms. However, I paid less attention to the lyrics than I did other elements of the songs, which, in many cases, kicked ass.
Nets to Catch the Wind is full of gritty riffs supported by thunderous bass and drums. I actually found that the band had a lot of really interesting musical ideas. ‘My Paper Heart’ puts on full display the range of stylistic dynamics achieved by Tigercub. The verses shrink down to a minimalistic approach through a clean, chimey guitar sound, and is followed by a chorus and bridge of smashing drums and the essential fuzzed bass which bring the ferocity to the headbanging riff laid down by Hall. This energy is reached throughout the album, and is the main reason why Nets to Catch the Wind ended up growing on me. While it’s a little too heavy for my taste, and leans much further into metal than I think the band’s PR team would care to admit (having branded themselves as an alternative rock band), Tigercub’s Nets to Catch the Wind accomplishes a lot in its songwriting. The killer riffs, creative progressions, and overall in-your-face sound make up for the fact that the themes of the album are a little simplistic and repetitive. Nets to Catch the Wind has a lot of good songs, and I look forward to seeing if Tigercub can focus their obvious talent and creative minds on ideas that are a little bit more interesting.