Im Terry

Description

Im going to set Carpe Diem as my alarm for the next week and see how that makes me feel. It will be replacing an alternation of Werewolves of London and Baby, Its You. After a week the familiarity might feel kind of insane but kind of nice. Ad nauseum to the coffee. Yeah! Terry is into repetition. Terry often feels like the daily grind but set inside a Loony Tune. They can be slightly nasty and violent, but funny at the same time. I laugh at Terry riffs a lot. The lyrics are droll, yes, but have you heard the riffs? Its like theyre tickling you. Its like Terry has got his great big fingers under my arms. But this is all part of a strangely conceived plan. I would almost say that Terry is highly conceptual. Possibly the most conceptual band Ive been around, possibly in my whole life. Like whats really going on here? Why am I listening to jingles and feeling so moved?

My favourite songs on Terrys new album Im Terry (the bands third record in three years), are Under Reign, its a creepy one, sandwiched between other new faves The Whip and Crimes. Theres a theme of dominance and submission here, but kinda unremarkable and ignorable, like knowing youre enslaved by your streaming service but just gently putting that out of your mind for another week. Terry is domesticity. Terry romances the mundane. This is how romance ekes out a triumph amidst mundanity. Thats what Billy Braggs New England and Squeezes Up The Junction do. Terrys suburban escapism moment is Ciao Goodbye. Listen to Ciao Goodbye on an arterial road under the yellow streetlights of a weeknight. Terry has never been this beautiful. Terry may never be beautiful again, definitely not on this record. The next song is psycho.

Thats what I like about Terry, there are few rules in Terrys world. They seem to make a song out of whatever sounds good to them. I literally dont know what theyll do next. They arent a genre study. The only stylistic consistency is in their hat wear. Ive never been in a band like this. Ive been in a band that simultaneously studied genre and also hats. But never only hats. Have you noticed the reggae undercurrent in Terry? There is one. This is good. Terry are kinda like Steely Dan or 10cc. Both bands make me queasy after a certain point. Terry probably also make me a bit queasy, singing about police beatings and nationalism and all that. But theyre not out to hurt you. Theyre like the kindly bearer of bad news. Theres some awful shit going on in this country. Terry knows. Terry puts it in terms that speak to me. Its a tragicomedy. I want to laugh and sometimes I want to consider crying. But I dont think I will. Im pretty certain Terry isnt perverse, theyre just the harbinger of the encroaching perverse world. Im pretty certain Terry wants to be my friend, and your friend. Our friend, Terry. Lee Parker, 2018.